How We Loved Them
by LoaTurtle00
Summary: The sequel to "How We Met Them". The Hamato and the Mitchell families live in their late-teenage to early-college-age years. They deal with many typical things that come with the territory. How will life change for them?
1. Ch 1: Captured!

**How We Loved Them**

**About this story**: the sequel to "How We Met Them", the Mitchell Family (my OCs) and the TMNT (Who belonged to Mirage, and I think they belong to Nick now—well, it's anyone but me, that's all I know!). First 4 Chapters written before the 2k3 cartoon, but I'll try to update them—we'll see how this works. Rated T (PG-13), due to some adult-ish conversations and situations. (Do you think I should change it?)

**Warnings about this chapter**: Based on a rough draft written on July 4, 2001. Contains a conversation with sexual references, and some spiritual references…and eventually some action violence.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Captured!**

"So, before you met me, you liked three other girls?" Sheila asked as she looked up at Raph. The two of them were walking through Central Park in the early part of a summer night.

"Yeah," Raph sighed, almost thinking it would make Sheila mad once she knew his history. But he changed his tone and tried to make Sheila think he was proud of it. "At first, I liked our friend, April, though it was more of a crush, and I was able to let it go, since I really didn't think she was my type. Besides, my friend Casey is with her, and my younger brother still has a crush on her—it's already a threesome without me.

"After that I met Lucindra, who I actually got brave enough to try to get close to, but she practically shot me down and said she only liked me as a friend—because I was, as she said, 'just a _kid'_."

"Ouch," Sheila sighed, "the first heartbreak always hurts more. So who was the third girl?"

Raph continued, "Then there was this mutant lizard girl named Mona Lisa. We were both really serious about each other for a while. Leo was hard on me about it and would always try bursting in on us before we went too far." He looked down at his feet guiltily, "There was finally a time when he failed at that, and I ended up…" He glanced at Sheila to see that she was giving him a concerned and encouraging look. "Uhh…losing my virginity with her. I'm sorry I have to tell you that…since we've been together…even though we're nowhere near the bed or the backseat or third base…"

Sheila nodded, "That's OK, I'm also a 'recycled virgin', and I'd like to save what I've got for marriage…" she noticed Raph cocked his eye at that statement, so she added, "…you know, whenever that may be, someday…no pressure or anything, we've only known each other a few months. So, what happened to Mona Lisa?"

"She moved away after almost two years, and just a few months before I met you, she emailed us and said that she was now seeing another friend of ours, Mondo Gecko. Since Don always checks email, he found out and so did the others, and of course I was the last to know, so the others rubbed it in my face and I was in a major funk for a while."

"Did your brothers ever know that you and her lost your virginity together?"

"Well, I actually admitted it to Splinter. He wanted to know why I was so down about Mona moving away, and I even told him that I thought I would spend the rest of my life with her. Splinter actually took the news better than I thought he would, or at least in a less judgmental way than Leo would've taken it. Mikey also knows about it, since he was the first person I told after I 'did the deed'. What kind of guy would I be if I didn't brag about it to at least one person? Of course he swore he wouldn't tell Leo or Donnie, so now guess who knows about it—Leo and Donnie!"

"And how did they take this news?"

"Well, at least Donnie didn't really say anything other than, 'If you ever wanna talk, I'm here for you…' And I got the heavy, judgmental lecture from Leo, who told me I should be a monk and sex is bad, blah, blah, blah…"

"Now that he and Venus are together, I guess he's rethinking that whole speech." Sheila laughed.

Raph chuckled. "Yeah, I used to think I wouldn't have as much fun with a girlfriend if we weren't trying to hit the sack, but since I've known you, Sheila, I've had a great time talking, joking, and hanging out with you. I feel like we're also awesome friends, not just boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't have to pretend to be the mushy romantic-crap Romeo for you and give you flowers and stuff. I can be accepted as just plain-old Raphael Hamato." He squeezed her hand, which he had been holding the whole time.

"Thanks, Raph," she squeezed back, "And I like being with 'just plain-old Raphael Hamato', he's a lot sweeter, kinder, nicer, and a lot more fun than Jeanique."

"So, was he _your_ first time?"

Sheila playfully slapped Raph with her other hand.

"Ow!" Raph exclaimed, rubbing his arm. "I told you my story, it's only fair if you tell yours…" Then he remembered he heard her horrible story, and changed his tone. "Oh, Sheila, I'm sorry…I forgot that you were raped…to me that doesn't count as losing your virginity, at least in the mental sense…"

"Raph…" Sheila interrupted. "I told you I'm a recycled virgin, and this was even before the whole gang-rape thing…" She looked up at him and continued, "And, yes, my first time was with Jeanique. I went out with him for a few months off and on while I was fourteen and fifteen. He was the 'gangsta'-type, who was very possessive of me as his 'chick'. He was a little older than me, and I used to think it was sweet that he acted so protective of me. Then he started referring to me as his 'ho' and himself as the 'pimp', and he said I owed him 'favors' for all the protection and taking me out for dinner, movies, and hockey games, and stuff. So, for his seventeenth birthday, I pretty much gave him my virginity—wrapped up in a fancy package and bow. It started with kissing, and rolling on his bed. He was kinda rough with me, but I was telling myself he was just having fun with me, and as his 'ho', I could handle it, and it was my civic duty. I actually was enjoying it, thinking I would always be his 'ho'. When that first time was over, he said, 'the other Turtle hoes need to pay up to their pimps, and since you're the first who paid up, I'll make sure you get something extra special for your birthday. Well, about two months later was my sixteenth birthday, and I was thinking he would get me some expensive bling or something. Instead, after I got off work at the pizza place that evening, about to go home and celebrate with my family, he and the other two Purple Dragon guys jumped me in the alley and gang-raped me."

"Did you tell anyone in _your_ family about when you lost your virginity?"

"Well, I told Lisa when she was checking me for the whole medical work-up thing. And she was actually working in the clinic at the time, so it was considered confidential patient information. She hugged me and cried with me, since I was now devastated about the whole thing. She said she wouldn't tell anyone, since she was my doctor and I was her patient. And she's gonna be a good doctor, since she's already a good big sister. I also told Daddy about it, and he actually took the news better than I thought he would—I guess like Splinter when you told him. He told me that even though I had made some mistakes in life, I could always start again. His belief in God is all about second chances. He also said that I'm still Jesus' Bride, and not Jeanique's or Satan's Ho. And that he could still walk me down the aisle in a white dress, figuratively speaking, as a 'recycled virgin'. He basically told me the concept of 'recycled' virginity."

"I like that," Raph smiled. "It's good to know I can start again, too. And I'll do what I can to protect you in the physical sense, not because I'm your pimp…I mean, I don't think of you as a 'ho' at all—you're practically family, only we can still date."

Sheila smiled and squeezed his hand.

Raph wondered, "You know, I do wonder what became of Jeanique and those other Purple Dragon guys. We haven't seen 'em since then, but I do hope they changed for the better."

"So do I."

The two of them were walking over a bridge overlooking a pond. They stopped in the middle to admire the view around them. Raph put his arm around Sheila.

"Pulling the mushy romantic-crap, now, aren't you?" Sheila looked up at him.

"Nah, you just looked a little cold." Raph replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, right, in the summer time?" She leaned her head on his shoulder, "Raph, admit it, you're just a big teddy bear."

They laughed for just a few seconds, but Raph started looking around and asked, "Did you hear that?" He looked worriedly at Sheila.

"Hear what?" She looked up and gasped.

When Raph looked up again, he noticed that the two of them were surrounded on the bridge by almost two-dozen Foot soldiers.

Raph drew his sais. Once the Foot advanced, he began to fight them off. Sheila was new to fighting, but she and her sisters had several lessons in defending themselves during the last three-and-a-half months of living with the Ninja Turtles. She was able to use many of those lessons—with Raph's help, of course—and hold off the Foot for nearly ten minutes.

But since Sheila was inexperienced and Raph was outnumbered, the Foot overtook them, tied and blindfolded them, and dragged them to their headquarters.

When their blindfolds were removed, Raph looked around and saw that he was in a big room full of the Foot. His hands were tied above his head to a pole. Sheila was tied in the same way to another pole ten feet away. She gave Raph a frightened and confused look, and she was as still as could be. Raph tried to give her a reassuring look, for he hated to think of how scared she was.

There was an evil laughter coming from right behind Raph. Raph turned around and came face-to-face with the metal mask of the Shredder.

"Well, well, well," gloated Shredder, "my soldiers have managed to capture the Old Rat's rogue student. He will be a great guinea-pig for experimenting with our new method of vengeance." Turning to Raph, he said, "For quite some time I have been dreaming of starting with you, Raphael." He laughed maniacally.

Raph shot him an angry look as he tried to get loose.

"And what's this?" Shredder moved over to inspect Sheila. She was obviously terrified, but Raph noticed that her gaze looked up and her eyes closed.

_She's probably praying_, thought Raph. His fear for her subsided as he quickly prayed in his mind for God to protect Sheila and himself, but mostly Sheila. He suddenly felt better, as though he were handing the reins to a better driver than himself.

Shredder continued, "This must be a friend of Raphael's. Aren't you?"

"Yes, sir," Sheila managed to look mellow and calm though she was scared.

Raph didn't think Shredder deserved to be called "sir", but he didn't voice that thought.

"Did he tell you anything about me?" asked Shredder.

"Some, but not that much, sir," she replied.

"And I'd surmise that none of it was good. Am I right?"

"Well, sir, I only heard the story from Raphael's point of view, but you are right in that it wasn't intended to leave me with a good impression of you."

Shredder laughed his evil trademark laughter.

Raph cut in, "Shredder, this one doesn't have anything personal against you, and she hasn't done anything against you, either. If you want to carry out your vengeance on my family, perhaps you could please let her go, so she could tell the others where I am, then they could come after me—in a way, leading the others right to you."

"Hmmm…" Shredder scratched his metal facemask while considering the possibilities. He looked at Sheila, "You know, I have a difficult time believing that you and Raphael are friends. Do you know why that is?"

Sheila shook her head, "No, sir."

"Why, it's because you seem far too nice and polite for him—I would say you are out of his league. Maybe I will just let you go, just so you can bring the other Turtles. After all, I really didn't mean to invite you to this little party, but that would be the fault of my Foot soldiers, who do not always discern or discriminate the worthiness of my guests." He snapped his fingers, and an elite guard appeared. He motioned to Sheila, "Let this one go!"

Once the guard untied her hands, Sheila looked at Shredder, bowed her head, and said, "Thank you, sir."

Shredder flicked his metal-clad wrist, "Just go and get out of here before I change my mind."

As she turned to leave, she looked concernedly at Raph, who winked at her as if to say, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

The Foot cleared away and formed a path to the door, so Sheila left as quickly as possible. But once she was out the door, she remembered to make sure she wasn't being followed home. She took some turns through a longer route home. After the second block, she got tired and rested against a mailbox, panting heavily.

Suddenly, some arms wrapped around her, something gagged her, and someone dragged her a few yards. Sheila nearly panicked, screamed, and bit the person, but she heard a familiar voice say, "Relax, Sheila, it's us!"

The arms loosened their hold and Sheila turned around and sighed heavily, "Oh, Leo, Mikey, Donnie, am I ever glad to see you guys! Raph and I got captured by the 'Feet Cult' you told us about. Raph is still there…"

"We know, Donnie alerted us with his tracking program, and that's why we're here." Leo stated, "But how did you manage to escape?"

"That 'Schroder' guy in the metal helmet decided I wasn't worth keeping around, so he let me go, I guess so I could tell you guys, and get you to go to his headquarters in order to rescue Raph."

Mike rolled his eyes, "No doubt he's using Raph as bait and you as a lure."

"Well, we're at least glad you're alright," Don patted her shell.

"Now I guess we'd better get back in the hummer and plan how to rescue Raph's shell," Leo motioned to the car parked next to the curb. "Sheila, you can have first-pick on where you want to sit."

Sheila decided to sit in the back, next to Mike, who gave her some important heads-up, "By the way, the guy with the metal helmet is '_Shredder'_, and his gang is called the '_Foot Clan_'. I knew what you meant, but I thought I'd set you strait on their names."

Sheila laughed in spite of herself.

Don remarked, "She reminds me so much of Venus when she started out." He and Mike laughed.

"OK, fellas, let's focus on our mission, here," Leo brought them back to reality, "We're trying to rescue Raph, this time from something he probably didn't bring on himself as he did in the past. Here's the plan…"

He went on to explain what each Turtle was to do. Sheila liked her part—she was to stay in the car and keep in touch with the boys through the car radio, and if she was pushed to it, she might even have to drive the car. That was a last resort since she didn't know how to drive the hummer yet. The whole idea of being in a battle was pretty scary for her, but a little exciting, too. She was still praying as hard as she did when the Foot captured her.

Soon Leo pulled over quite a ways from the Foot Headquarters, but where the building was still in sight. He signaled for the guys to get out.

"What is that?" Sheila whispered and pointed to a figure that stumbled out of perhaps the back door to the Foot Headquarters building.

"I don't know," Mike stated.

"I'm not sure, either," Don said, "But it looks like some drunk guy that probably left a bar room in the back of the Foot HQ. Maybe he's so drunk he wouldn't notice us creeping in, but we still won't take any chances."

The guy had been in the shadows for a while, but when the guys got closer, he stumbled into a street light pole, which knocked him to his knees. Soon he was lying in the street, and the guys actually saw his face.

"Raph!" Mike and Don ran to him while Leo watched for danger. They helped their brother to his feet and began to walk him back to the car.

Sheila didn't recognize him as Raph at first, so she wondered why the guys were fussing over helping some random drunken Foot soldier. She got a better look at him when they reached the car, and she also moved to the very back—the "trunk" area—to let Raph have a more comfortable seat.

Mike helped him get into the back seat. Everyone was asking him if he was OK, but he said nothing except for a few grunts and groans. Since the Turtles got what they came for, they drove back to the lair. Raph moaned at just about every turn, bump, or dip in the road. He seemed out of it and as if he'd had quite a thrashing.

Once they arrived home, the brothers helped Raph out of the car. As Sheila got out, she noticed what looked like a bloodstain on the seat where Raph had been sitting. It looked somewhat fresh, but she told herself it had probably been there the whole time, it was hard to tell against the black upholstery.

"Lisa, will you help me check and treat Raph's injuries?" Don pleaded, "He looks pretty beat up, and we'd like a doctor to care for him."

"I'll see what I can do for him," Lisa submitted, as she helped Don lead Raph into her jerry-rigged clinic.

The extent of his injuries were checked and treated, while Sheila, Leo, and Mike told their account of the story to the rest of their family.

After almost an hour, Don and Lisa helped Raph out of the clinic and onto the living room couch, where he was administered cold packs and herbal tea.

"Basically," Lisa diagnosed, "He's had a head injury from repeated punches to the head. His mouth was bleeding a little, just from a bruised lip. We tried to ask him what they did to him in the Foot HQ, but he was too out-of-it to tell us. We also asked where it hurt, and all he could do was motion and point. He pointed out most of the average bruises. Except one of the places where he pointed…" she blushed a little, "was in his tail and genital region, where Donnie and I found a what looks like a puncture wound. That pain may subside, but it's hard to tell with punctures, and we'll have to make sure it's not causing him any other problems—but I'm sure we can just _ask_ him later on, since he's starting to come to. Once the trauma wears off, he'll be back to his healthy condition."

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**A/N**: At this point, Lisa's medical experience is best described as on the "candy-striper" level, with some experience shadowing some doctor friend of the family—who was her reference to get her into med school. In my personal experience in pharmacy school and talking and working with some med students along the way, getting thru the "gross" part of gross anatomy and trying to keep professional composure while discussing GU (genitourinary) and reproductive subject matter as if it were any other organ system is an art that takes practice. And yes, even some health care professionals still blush when discussing such awkward subjects with patients. You really must keep an appropriate sense of humor about it. ;) When I first wrote the rough draft, I was too embarrassed to write some things! Now, medical stuff doesn't phase me, it fascinates me. I apologize if it causes anyone to lose their lunch—but I could recommend some drugs (over-the-counter and prescription, that is) for you that could help!


	2. Ch 2: Rescue

**How We Loved Them**

**About this story**: the sequel to "How We Met Them", the Mitchell Family (my OCs) and the TMNT (Who belonged to Mirage, and I think they belong to Nick now—well, it's anyone but me, that's all I know!). First 4 Chapters written before the 2k3 cartoon, but I'll try to update them—we'll see how this works. Rated T (PG-13), due to some adult conversations and situations.

**Warnings about this chapter**: Based on a rough draft written on August 19, 2001. Contains some action violence, spiritual references; and possibly some slightly disturbing "medical" imagery.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Rescue**

It was breakfast time the next day in the Turtles' Lair. The Turtle boys and girls had just showered after their morning workout. Even Raph was there _physically_, but he had still been feeling "funny" and his mind just wasn't all there, so he sat out during most of the practice.

Now he was slowly and quietly eating a bowl of cereal in his usual spot at the table with the others. Everyone else was talking and laughing. They thought maybe it was best to leave Raph alone at a time like this, since he didn't usually like to be the center of that kind of attention. So Mike and Eva were busy petting and feeding the cat, Klunk, while the others looked on and laughed.

_Ka-Plunk_! Everyone suddenly looked in Raph's direction at the sound of his dropped spoon. He was just staring blankly straight ahead.

"Raph?" Don waved his hand in front of Raph's face.

"There are captives in the dungeon—two girls our age," Raph randomly muttered.

"Is he off on a trip or something?" Sheila asked.

"Yeah," Leo guessed, "Or maybe he's had a bad dream. Poor guy."

Raph went on, "There are two nice girls; their names are Cristin and Sarah. They said that they had just graduated from high school, and then they teamed up with a guy who used to be in the Foot Clan until he got injured in a battle with us. While this guy was in the hospital, these girls started studying with him and telling him about Jesus. He soon became a Christian and started going to church with them, and he even wanted other Foot soldiers to hear the Gospel as he had.

"So he and the girls went to the Foot Headquarters as missionaries or chaplains. But the Foot captured them. The girls don't know what became of the guy, but they were—and are still—being used in radiation experiments in the basement.

"When I was taken down there for some other experiment, I met the girls. Their clothes are tattered and completely rags. Their hair is really thin, messy, and falling out. Their skin is an awful pink and purplish color, and it looks terribly thin and tender. They gave me some pictures of themselves and the 'progress' of these radiation experiments. I put the pictures in my belt pocket so I wouldn't forget about the girls, but they must've fallen out. We've got to get those poor girls out of there!"

Mike shuddered, "OK, guys, he's flippin' out. Let's take him back to bed."

"Wait a minute…" Lisa seemed to be remembering something. "Donnie, remember those pictures we found when we were checking on him, the ones we thought were from some graphic science-fiction movie?"

"Oh, _those_," Don answered, "Yeah, do you remember where you put them?"

"Sure, be right back," Lisa said before running out of the room.

Leo looked at Raph, then at Don to ask, "So, do you think he's coming back to us and he's telling us the truth?"

Before Don could answer, Raph rolled his eyes at Leo and remarked, "Of course I am, Leo, so you can stop treating me like a funny-farm patient. I only _wish_ that it were a bad dream, but it was _real_."

Raph looked like he was about to break down, so Mike put Klunk in his lap to cheer him up. Raph thanked Mike and began stroking Klunk's fur, though he still shed a few tears.

"Raph is right," Everyone looked over as Lisa came back with some photos in her hands. She showed them to Raph, "Are these the girls you were talking about?" He just nodded.

Others wanted to see the pictures, so Lisa passed them around.

"Those poor girls!" Venus sympathized, "I agree with Raph—we must get them out of there!"

Minutes later, the Turtles were huddled around Don's computer screen working out a plan to rescue the two girls. Splinter, Mitchell, and Mitzi joined them as well.

Leo worked out a plan after the situation was explained to the parents, "Instead of all of us fighting our way through the front door, we could have some of the group going in from the back, or from underneath to bust these girls out. Those of us who are experienced warriors could go in at the front door and just distract the Foot long enough so that they wouldn't notice those invading from the back door. These back-door invaders could be those that don't fight, but at least one fighter could go with them for more defense—just in case."

Don added, "We also ought to have one person in each group with a walkie-talkie, so we could stay in touch. This communication specialist in the fighting/distracting group would need to be hidden somewhere where they could see what's going on and be able to report it."

Leo continued, "Right now, we all should split up into the distracting group and the rescue group. Raph, I'd hate to say this to ya, but I think you should be in the rescue group. I know you'd rather fight, but you're still recovering and I'd feel better if you were helping to defend the rescue group. Besides, you've met these girls and they would probably feel better if they recognized you busting them out."

Raph looked disappointed at first, but then agreed, "Aw, all right, I guess I'd better not bust any more heads until mine is screwed back on just right." The others laughed.

Raph was to be working with the entire Mitchell family as the rescue team while Venus, Splinter, and the other three Turtle boys would be the decoy group. Lisa and Mitzi would just stay in the lair and get medical supplies and food ready to help the captive girls—or any fighter who happened to come back weak, hungry, or injured. Sheila, Venus, and Mitzi were the ones with the walkie-talkies. At first Venus was uncomfortable using technology, but realized she had to improvise since Sheila and her mother couldn't dream-walk.

The "back-door group" decided it would be much safer for them to go underneath. Don gave them a few power tools, shovels, and some dynamite; along with a map of the building he had drawn from his tracking program and years of experience in battling in the building. Raph gave him some feedback that he remembered of what he saw of the basement. From that information, Don estimated the exact spot where the girls' cell should be. Since most of the girls' time of "playing guinea pigs" would take place during the day, this rescue mission would take place at night, but they would still make sure that the decoy group was in place before they started.

In order for the decoy group to seem more defensive than offensive, Mike suggested they pretend they thought Raph was still captured and held by the Foot. It would make sense because Raph had been captured the previous night, and they could pretend Raph didn't make it back home and that he was still held captive by the Foot.

The two groups worked over the plan throughout the day and even around the dinner table until everyone was comfortable with the part they were to play.

* * *

As soon as night fell, the two groups got situated. The decoy group drove the long way to the Foot HQ, while the rescue group walked and carried equipment in backpacks, but at least they could walk the shortcut underground.

Once they were at the estimated spot, Sheila contacted Venus to see how the decoy group was doing. Venus reported that they were all set and attracting attention, and even starting a few skirmishes.

Upon hearing that news, Raph and Mitchell set up enough dynamite to blow a good-sized hole that would be at least large enough for a head to fit through it. A match lit it at the same time the others backed away and covered their ears.

_BOOM_! After the dust and smoke cleared, a hole of about a foot-and-a-half in diameter was left in the wall.

Mitchell nudged Raph, "I think you'd better look and make sure we got the right room, Raph."

Raph peered through the hole while waving away smoke. The room inside was about as dark as the sewer. When his eyes adjusted to it, he began to make out two shuddering forms clutching each other tight.

In a loud enough whisper, he asked, "Cristin, Sarah, is that you girls who I met last night in here? It's me—Raphael."

One of the forms sighed with relief, "Oh, it's you! We didn't know if you'd ever come back for us."

The other said, " We had no idea what that noise was or what would come through that hole in the wall."

Raph whispered again, "If anyone else comes down here to check on that noise, just tell them you think it was the generator or the pipes or something like that. Meanwhile, why not make your way over here and try to get through this hole—but maybe one of you should stand guard."

"You go through the hole first, Cristin, since you're a little skinnier, while I check to make sure no one is coming," said the figure that had to be Sarah.

Cristin quietly shuffled over to the hole, sat on the ground, and stuck her feet through. All the Turtle group could see of her were her tattered jeans and broken and torn flip-flop sandals. Her legs flipped around as she turned on her stomach to back out.

She then stopped and seemed to feel around with her feet while calling back, "Umm…I don't know where I'm going…"

"Here, let me help," Eva made her way over to the feet. "Keep coming back, you're doing fine…" She helped pull Cristin to her feet once she made it through.

But she couldn't stay on her feet for long. As soon as Eva turned to help Sarah, Cristin began to weaken and faint. She felt herself fall, but she felt some strong arms catch her before she hit the ground. "You're OK," the owner of the arms said.

"I feel so weak and sick," she muttered against his shoulder. "Crawling through the hole took all my energy," she moaned. "But thank you for coming back for us. We appreciate it so much."

"I couldn't leave you in there another day," Raph comforted, "And I'll carry you out, since we have a ways to walk and I'm not sure if you can make it."

As Eva was peeking back through the hole, she heard Sarah telling someone about the busted generator, so she kept quiet. But the minute Sarah was sure they were gone, or not looking at her, she crept over to the hole and put her feet in. She also turned around and backed out.

The problem was, she was a little bigger than Cristin, and she nearly got stuck. Eva was afraid to pull too hard at first for fear of hurting Sarah and making her scream loud enough to be heard by anyone in the basement. But nevertheless, Eva was able to wedge the bigger half of her through so that the rest of her could come out easily.

Sheila helped Sarah get to her feet from there. She panted heavily as she leaned on Sheila's shoulder.

Once most of her breath returned, she looked at Sheila and Eva and said, "Oh, I'm sorry my rear end is so big."

Sheila smiled, "It's a curse," she shook her head and patted the back of her own leg, "But you're not the only one with that problem."

Sarah laughed with Sheila, but it made it hard for her to breathe. As she weakened and started to faint, Mitchell scooped her up in his arms.

Eva and Sheila started picking up the equipment as Raph and Mitchell started carrying the human girls. When that was done, Sheila radioed Venus and announced that the girls had been rescued. She then got a hold of her mother and told her the same thing.

It was dark when the group first started out, but as they went along they passed a few gratings in the street that let some light in. Only then did Cristin and Sarah get a good look at their rescuers.

"So, how long were they doing radiation experiments on you guys?" Sarah inquired.

The Turtles all looked at each other and laughed.

Raph stopped laughing so he could explain, "Well, it's kind of a long story, and we'd rather wait until we get home before we tell it. But before we tell you our story, you must promise that you will not tell another human soul about us, and you must also promise you will not tell anyone where we live, as well."

"We promise," the girls solemnly vowed together.

Sarah continued, "It's the least we can do for you guys, since you saved our lives."

Raph went on explaining, "Ah, don't mention it…anyways…uh, first of all, the Foot hasn't been doing any radiation experiments on us, whatsoever."

Eva chimed in, "The reason we have hard shells and we're green and we don't look human is because…"

"We're not human," Sheila elaborated.

Mitchell finished, "We're mutant turtles. I know it's hard to believe."

"Well, we don't care what you are or what you look like," Cristin consoled, "You saved our lives!"

"Yeah," Sarah completed, "To us, you're angels in disguise!"

The Turtles were completely flattered by this statement. It wasn't long before the group returned to the entrance to the lair, where Don and Leo were waiting for them.

"Looks like the mission was a success," Leo said as the rescue crew walked up. He had a few minor cuts on his arm and some bruises on his leg. "Good job, guys."

"Did you have any trouble?" Don asked. His left hand was wrapped up in a bandage that revealed a few bloody spots.

"No, it wasn't bad at all," Eva said before changing her tone, "But what happened to you guys?"

Don shrugged and looked at his hand, "Oh, it's OK. Battle injuries aren't uncommon with us."

Eva still looked concerned, so Leo reassured her with, "But don't worry, Mikey is fine, and so are Venus and Splinter. They're down below, ready to help you move in the equipment and the two girls."

The Turtles were soon busy passing equipment down the ladder and helping the human girls climb down. Before long, they were all gathered on the platform at the bottom of the ladder.

"So these must be the girls that Raphael has been telling us so much about," Splinter said as he came forward to meet them. At first the girls were surprised at seeing Splinter, but he didn't seem as scary when he kindly took hold of their hands.

"Yes," Raph stepped forward, "This is Cristin and Sarah." He pointed to the girl who corresponded with each name. Turning to the girls, he went on, "And this is my family…Splinter, Leonardo, Venus de Milo, Donatello, and Michelangelo. And these others are, I guess you could say, an adopted extension to our family—the Mitchell family. This is Mitchell and his wife, Mitzi, with their girls—Eva, Lisa, and my girlfriend Sheila."

The human girls smiled at their rescuers. They were just now getting used to the fact that they were giant turtles and a giant rat.

Lisa and the other girls decided to take Cristin and Sarah into Lisa's clinic for a bit of medical attention to help them through the night. They also helped clean them off before finding them some clean clothes they could sleep in. It was a fun time for the human girls to get to know the Turtle girls.

When that was done, Cristin and Sarah were taken into the kitchen where they had the best meal they'd ever had in over a month. They also heard the Turtles' origin stories and how the two families met. There was even some time for them to tell the Turtles about their families.

Since Lisa knew the girls would need a professional doctor, she asked Don how they would be able to take the girls to the hospital.

Don had an idea, "Maybe we can call our friend April and ask her if she will take them in. We could pick her up and just drive all three of them up there. I think the photos would be useful evidence as well, so we should remember to bring those."

Even though it was past midnight, Don and Lisa called April to ask if she would be able to do that. Though she was quite sleepy, she said she could help, once the situation was explained to her.

Once the phone call was made, Don went to the kitchen area with Lisa to tell the others of the news. Surprisingly, the kitchen was empty except for Mitchell and Mitzi, who seemed to be just getting a midnight snack.

Lisa told them about April and asked where the human girls and the other Turtles were.

"They were tired," Mitzi said, showing signs of her own case of sleepiness, "and they just went to bed. It's been a long day for us, too." She yawned.

"Goodnight, Mom," Lisa blew her mother a kiss before going to bed.

Don sleepily stumbled to his own room for the night.

* * *

As the sun was beginning to rise the next morning, Lisa got comfortable in the back seat of the hummer, with an arm around each human girl sleeping pillowed against each shoulder. Don winked at her in the rear-view mirror before pulling up next to April's Second Time Around shop.

"I'll be right back," he said as he got out of the car.

Five minutes later, he returned with April, who took shotgun of the car.

"How are you doing back there, Lisa?" She asked somewhat sleepily.

"I'm sleepy, too," Lisa replied. She was no stranger to April, for April had met Lisa and the rest of Mitchell family when she and Casey Jones came to a summer-kick-off party at the Turtles' Lair.

Don drove a few more blocks before he reached the hospital. He drove up to where he could let April, Cristin, and Sarah get off. Lisa handed April the photos before April went inside, with an arm supporting each girl.

Lisa climbed into shotgun next to Don. They watched the three humans head inside before they drove back home.

April got the girls' home phone numbers before the hospital staff took the girls into different examining rooms. Once April was alone in the waiting room, she got to a phone and called each girl's parents to announce that their daughters had been found and that they were at the hospital. She was met with shouts of joy and some happy tears. Even a local news crew was alerted of this story.

Cristin's parents, the Blake family, and Sarah's parents, the Mann family, were interviewed after they got to see and be reunited with their children.

* * *

That evening, the Turtles gathered around the TV to watch the news report on the recent story.

_"Something wonderful happened for the Blake and Mann families today. For just this morning, their eighteen year-old daughters, who had been missing for over a month and a half, were found and admitted to the hospital. Presently, Cristin Blake and Sarah Mann are being treated for some horrifying effects of radiation sickness, but their spirits are high, which seems to make their recovery smoother. The doctors here at St John's Medical Center predict that the girls will be able to go home in just a few weeks."_

A few clips were shown of the girls' family members and doctors being interviewed. The reporter also interviewed Cristin and Sarah themselves, in the hospital room they shared. She asked them where they had been and how they got exposed to all the radiation. She also asked how they escaped.

Cristin said, "We were rescued by…"

She looked at Sarah, who completed with, "Uh…a wonderful family with hearts of gold that did what any Good Samaritan would do for another living soul."

Cristin finished with a smile, "They were definitely an answer to prayer."

Together, they waved at the camera and smiled, "Thanks for remembering us, Raphael! You and your friends are our heroes! We love you guys and girls!"

Raph blushed, but he was flushed with more pride than embarrassment. The other guys patted his shell and gave him noogies as the news report was wrapped up.

Leo turned to the Mitchell family, "Congratulations, the five of you are now official members of the Mean Green Team! Well done on your first mission accomplished."


	3. Ch 3: Emerging Illness

**How We Loved Them**

**About this story**: the sequel to "How We Met Them", the Mitchell Family (my OCs) and the TMNT (Who belonged to Mirage, and I think they belong to Nick now—well, it's anyone but me, that's all I know!). First 4 Chapters written before the 2k3 cartoon, but I'll try to update them—we'll see how this works. Rated T (PG-13), due to some adult conversations and situations.

**Warnings about this chapter**: Based on a rough draft written on October 6, 2001. Contains some slightly disturbing "medical"/anatomical descriptions & imagery (but not in the graphic sense, it just relates to the title of the chapter), and several spiritual references (some parts may even get "churchy", but I hope it's more comforting rather than preachy).

* * *

**Chapter 3: Emerging Illness**

"Wake up, Raph! It's time for our morning practice," Leo shook his sleepy-headed brother until his eyes were open.

But they didn't stay open. Raph just groaned and rolled over. He suddenly felt the covers being pulled back.

"Come on, Raph, you've had a full night's sleep, and you should be well-rested by now."

As Raph tried to keep his covers on, he was pulled into a sitting position. Was it his imagination, or were his head spinning, stomach swimming, and tail area cramping?

"Leo, I feel strange this morning, may I just stay in bed a little while longer, _pleeease_?"

"No way, your concussion should be gone by now. You were just fine yesterday. You're going to practice with us…now!"

Leo started to head to the training area. Raph finally decided to swing his feet over the side of the bed and stand up. For some reason, his legs and tail felt sore. "_Maybe it's just from not working out for the past few days,_" he thought.

But he went to the dojo, anyway. The other three guys seemed to have started a group sparring session to warm up. Raph joined even though he still wasn't mentally into it, for his strange feeling kept taunting him.

After about five minutes of bottling up the strange feeling while dodging various weapons, Raph felt as though his tongue were trying to jump down his throat. "_This is so uncool,_" he thought as he ran away from the group to find the nearest trashcan.

But he couldn't make it that far. Instead, he fell to his knees, and then he threw up. And he felt like he was throwing up a lot, considering he hadn't even eaten breakfast yet.

The others ran over to see if he was OK. When he finished vomiting, he began to cry. Mike cradled his head against his shoulder and let him cry.

He heard Leo's voice behind him say, "Oh, Raph, I am so sorry I made you practice while you weren't felling well. I mistook your illness for laziness, I'm sorry."

Raph turned around and patted Leo's shoulder to let him know he was forgiven.

"It looks like he threw up a little bit of blood," Don noticed, "I think Lisa had better have a look at him. Do you think so, Raph?"

Raph nodded as his brothers helped him to his feet.

Don put his arm around Raph and helped guide him to the girls' training area. Before he left, he called back to Mike and Leo, "Lisa and I may need a sample of that, so don't get rid of it all just yet."

"Ewww, gross!" He heard Mike wince.

It was a different atmosphere where the girls were practicing. Venus was showing the others some defensive moves, but she was putting these moves to an upbeat song, as if she were teaching a high-impact dance class. Every now and then, they would take a little break to relax, get a drink, or goof off.

It was toward the end of a dance that Don and Raph entered. They watched the rest of the dance, impressed, and waited until the girls were on break after the song ended before they spoke up.

But Eva happened to see them, and she gasped out of surprise.

"We didn't see you guys over there," Venus commented.

"Well, we are ninjas," Don stated, "We're supposed to not be seen." The girls laughed.

Raph nudged him as a reminder of the real purpose they were over there.

"Oh, yeah…" It all came back to Don, "Lisa, we need to see you in the clinic, if this is a good time for you. We wouldn't be out of our practice and interrupting yours unless it was somewhat of a medical emergency."

Raph wasn't paying much attention to Don's talking. Instead, he was looking around the room and his gaze fell on Sheila, who was giving him a flirty wave and smile and whispering, "Hi, Raph!"

"_Oh, great, it's just my luck that she has to see me like this. I don't know if I'm ready to take our relationship to this level,_" he thought. But he waved and smiled back, anyway.

Lisa's answer to Don's request brought Raph back into focus, "Oh, if you guys need me for a medical emergency, I'm ready and willing to help." Turning to her sisters on her way out, she called in a superhero-tone, "Sorry to leave practice this early girls, but duty calls…"

Venus hollered back, "We understand!"

Once Lisa was alone with Don and Raph, she asked, "So, what exactly is this sort of emergency?"

Don motioned to his ill brother, "Raph threw up during practice."

Lisa was slightly surprised, "Whoa! What kind of workout did Splinter make you guys do?"

Don continued, "We don't think it was the workout, since we were just warming up." He patted Raph's shell, "Why don't you tell her about it, Raph?"

Raph mumbled through his worn-out throat, "I felt weird when I woke up this morning, but I came to practice anyway, thinking it would go away. I don't feel like I still have the concussion going on, it's just that my head is having these dizzy spells, my stomach keeps doing swan-dives, and my legs hurt whenever I move them, mostly the upper parts of them, around my tail." He lowered his voice to a whisper, "And, this is really weird, but I've been having a sort of 'guy problem', where '_it_' hurts, and even comes 'on', but just won't go 'off'. Sure, that sounds like something I used to fantasize about—minus the painful cramping feeling, but this is ridiculous!" Returning to his normal tone of voice, "Anyways, I also feel this weird sense of weakness that's taking over me."

Lisa seemed lost in thought for a moment, "Are you hungry?"

"I am now, since I barfed up everything and I'm empty again, but I wasn't feeling hungry when I woke up this morning and felt everything else."

The three of them reached the clinic by that time. Don decided to get a vial in there in order to collect a sample of the "evidence" in the training area.

When he disappeared, Lisa told Raph, "If you like, you can just lie down on that table and rest, or you could even wash the yucky taste out of your mouth at the sink. I'll even go get something for you to eat from the kitchen."

"Food sounds good, I'd appreciate it a lot, Lisa. Thanks."

"When Don and I get back, we can have a better look at you and run a few tests that we think might help."

"But I forgot to study!" Raph sarcastically remarked. This made Lisa chuckle a little before she left the room.

When Raph was finally alone in the clinic, he decided to wash his mouth out before resting on the table. Not long after that, Lisa returned with some toast and milk for Raph and Don returned with the vial he thought would be a useful clue to find the cause for Raph's malady.

They decided to test the contents of the vial and set up for the rest of the check-up while letting Raph eat and rest.

The physical exam went by with many of the usual doctor's office tests, several of which Raph was not too comfortable being performed on him due to the fact that his doctor was a female who had just gotten accepted to a med school. But Don stayed in and helped mediate during those tests.

Raph was all worn out after the physical, so he decided to take a nap on the clinic bed while Don and Lisa tried to make heads-or-tails of the results.

"We sure found some weird cause for Raph's problem," Don noted, "I've never seen it before. It looks like some kind of virus that's been through a nuclear reaction of some kind. Have you ever seen anything like this in your experience practicing for the medical field?"

"No, I haven't seen anything like this either, Donnie" Lisa sighed and rested her forehead on her hand. "I think it might make more sense if we sent in the chart and the vial to my mentor, Dr Perry. He might know more about it, or have access to more information about it. We may have to wait a few days, but I'd rather wait than make an error in figuring it out myself."

"Do you think maybe he got this viral agent injected into him that night he was captured by the Foot?"

Lisa thought for a moment, "Maybe so, if they're experimenting with bioterrorism or something. Hopefully, we'll also figure out how to help Raph."

* * *

A few days later, almost before supper, most of the two Turtle families were watching TV in the living area. Mike and Eva had been sent to pick up the Turtles' mail from the post office a few moments earlier, and they were just now returning.

"Guess what?" Mike announced, "All of us Green Teens get something in the mail today! My lovely assistant and I will hand them out." He motioned to Eva holding the bag. As if on cue, Eva started digging through the bag and passing out the letters to their addressed owners.

"That would be nice if any of it were your results," Lisa said quietly to Raph, who slightly nodded.

After examining his letter, Leo voiced, "These are our rooming assignments for the dorms we're staying in when we go to college!"

Venus grabbed a pen and asked Leo, "May I write down your room information so I can know where to reach you?"

To Venus, he answered, "Oh, sure." Turning to the others, "Why don't we all exchange rooming information and landlines so we can keep in touch at school?"

The others were busy scrambling to one another to exchange information. Raph, however, didn't feel like moving. When others came to him, he let them do all the writing while he just sat there absent-mindedly.

A few moments later, he felt a small hand touch his arm and a sweet, soft voice whisper his name.

"Raph, would you like to exchange numbers with me?"

His gaze turned toward the voice and he found himself looking into Sheila's "sad puppy" brown eyes. He wanted to just hug her and fall asleep in her arms, but he thought about how tired he was—and the reason he was probably tired—and he realized that he didn't want Sheila—his source of sunshine and warmth in the dark and cold world—to get sick with whatever he had, if it was contagious. After all, he didn't even know _what_ he had!

He still didn't want to be rude—especially to Sheila, so he just handed her his letter and said, "Here's my stuff you can copy down, and since you have the pen, you can write your stuff on my letter." He tried not to breathe on her.

Sheila wrote Raph's information on her letter and started to write her info on Raph's. As she did so, she commented, "You know, Raph, you've seemed a bit withdrawn these past several days, and you and I also haven't left the Lair since the time we rescued those girls—and even then, we were still underground. I sure miss the fresh air and hanging out with you. I was hoping maybe you would like to give me a ride on your bike. Do you want to go riding with me right now?"

Raph pictured himself riding alone on the bike—the pressure on his lower half, sitting in an awkward and achy position, but adding another rider would cramp him even more. And he didn't want to imagine losing his lunch all over Sheila, or getting dizzy and having a terrible accident, either.

He finally managed an answer to Sheila's question, "Sheila, I really can't today, I'm sorry. A ride with you on my bike is usually good for whatever funk ails me. It's just that this time it's not just a nasty attitude holding me back, it's my health. I haven't been feeling well at all, and I'm especially in no shape to ride. I don't even know what's wrong with me, or if it's contagious or not. Right now I just want to be by myself and rest in my room."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I hope you get better and that your time to rest helps you out," she sympathized.

"Thanks, Sheila, I appreciate your concern." As he got up to head to his room, he begged, "Please don't tell everyone about how I'm feeling. Others may like a lot of attention for sympathetic reasons, but I prefer to keep to myself at times like this, and I don't want to be treated like a hospital patient."

"OK, mum's the word."

"Thanks again."

Closing the door to the room Raph shared with his three brothers (now that they had an extra family living with them), Raph sat on his bed and started to lie down. He thought, "_Sheila, what a sweet kid. She's prolly praying for me right now._" Another thought struck him—he hadn't really prayed for himself or told God how scared he really was!

Pulling the covers over his head, Raph let the tears run down his cheek while muffling his cries against his pillow.

"Oh, God," he prayed and cried at the same time, "I'm so scared of whatever's happening to me, and I don't know what to do. I thought following You would set things right in my life and make it more 'abundant', and You have made it just that—at least so far…so…thank You for that. But right now I think things have turned bad. Did I do something bad to bring this on myself? Please forgive me if I did. Please make me feel better so I can have my dignity back and my happy life back. I don't really know what to do next, please show me…"

He had been rolling around so that by now he was facing his night table. A sai was lying in plain view, so he absent-mindedly stared at it, following its point of the long center blade with his gaze, which happened to be pointing to the Bible that Mitchell gave him, shortly after hearing of Raph's recent baptism. Raph remembered him saying, "I don't want a new believer-brother to get lost, stumble in the dark, or be led astray, so I figured you'd need your Lamp, Map, and Guidebook inspired from the Master himself."

Upon remembering those words, Raph took his Bible off the shelf, placed it in his lap, and started to read. He had presently been studying in the Gospel of John, so he decided to start where his bookmark was in Chapter 9.

He imagined himself as the character of the blind man; only instead of being blind, he was a sick mutant. He wondered if the fact that he was sick was because he did something wrong to bring the illness on himself, just as Jesus' followers thought that the man was born blind because he or someone else brought it on him because of sin.

Verse 3 made Raph feel better when Jesus said, "It is not this man's sin or his parents' sin that made him be blind. This man was born blind so that God's power could be shown in him" (NCV).

This helped Raph think that his illness—or even his mutation—wasn't really a punishment for anything he or anyone else did. God made him a mutant so that His power could show through Raph's weakness! And perhaps even this recent illness would help show something of God's power, or teach Raph to trust Him in the meantime.

So he now prayed, "Dear God, I guess you have a good reason to let me be sick for now. I still hope you will heal me, but if you have a better plan that involves me being sick, I just hope you will give me the strength to live through it. I'm still scared of living with this sickness, since I'm pretty sure it's more than just a cold or flu. I'm anxious to get my test results back—I want to know what's wrong with me so I can do something about it, but at the same time I don't want to know. I need your help. Thank you for helping me so far, especially by sending Jesus to show me how to live. Every time I read about Him, or sing and hear about Him with the believers in my family, I feel as if I'm seeing Him in person. It makes me feel like you know and love me. I'm still new to the territory that comes with being a believer, even though I've been at it for three months or so. I'm learning, but I still have plenty to learn. It's in Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."

"Amen!" Raph heard someone else call out in the room, as he was about to open his eyes. When he opened them all the way, he saw Mike standing right there in front of him.

Raph asked, "So, how long have you been there?"

"I just came in to tell you that supper's ready, only I didn't want to interrupt. Besides, I was curious to know how you pray when you think you're alone."

"Are you gonna hold this against me as blackmail, somehow?"

"Actually, I wanted to see how it's done. I know you, Mitch, and Donnie get to pray during our Christian get-togethers, and I feel bad when I pass on praying. Being the only regularly attending who isn't a full-fledged Christian yet, I don't feel comfortable praying out loud. I'm not sure if I'm even _supposed_ to pray, yet."

"If it makes you feel any better, I remember praying a few times before I decided to officially become a Christian. That helped me decide that I really wanted to be one."

"Maybe I just need more practice in a safer place. I'm scared to learn in front of everyone in the get-together, so I was wondering if you would…help me practice, at least after supper. I really wanna learn, but I'm nervous. And I agree with what you said when you prayed that you felt like God knows and loves you, personally. I feel like he feels the same way about me and wants me to be a believer too, just like I feel like Eva wants to marry me—but with both of those, I still don't think I'm ready or mature enough for commitment just yet."

"I never imagined you would get stage fright like that…I'd actually be glad to help you learn or practice praying, and I'll even help out if you want to learn more about being part of God's family of believers. And just like there's no pressure in proposing to Eva—for cryin' out loud, Mike, I _know_ you're not ready for _that_—there's also no pressure to become a full-blown Christian. I do hope you will someday, but I wouldn't want to push you if you're not ready."

"Thanks, Raph, I can't wait 'til after supper when we can talk more about this."

"Anytime, Mikey, ol' buddy, ol' pal." He gave Mike a hug. "For now, though, we shouldn't keep the family waiting to eat."

And they headed out of the room with an arm around one another's shoulders.

* * *

Sunday dawned in the Turtles' Lair. The believers in the two families met in Don's lab for house church. After a song or two to "warm up" the devotional, Don took a piece of paper and pencil and asked, "Are there any prayer requests?"

Mike gently and slightly elbowed Raph while giving him an encouraging look.

Raph sighed, looked around the room, and nervously raised his hand.

When he had Don's attention, he began, "I hope this doesn't sound too selfish, but I've been feeling sick in a way that I've never felt sick before. It seems to feel weirder every day, and it's made me not feel like myself this past week. I know I normally keep to myself, but I've prolly been extra withdrawn and I've avoided being around all of you at one time or another, since I've gotten sick. Well, now you know why I've been that way. Sorry if I've hurt anyone's feelings, but I don't know what's wrong with me—I'm still waiting for the results of the tests that Lisa and Donnie did on me. It's _really_ been buggin' me, and I need your prayers, plus all your love and support."

Mike patted his shell. "It's alright, bro," he comforted, proud that Raph was able to share that burden with those in the Christian part of his family.

Sheila, on Raph's other side, just put her arms around his neck in a hug.

Pretty soon, everyone got up to give Raph a hug. Though he usually didn't like being the center of sympathetic attention, he felt a lot better with all the hugs.

When they sat down, Don asked, "Are there any other prayer requests?"

Mitzi chimed in, "I also haven't been feeling myself, lately." Motioning to Raph, she said, "I don't think I caught anything from you, since it's been an on-and-off nauseating feeling since we moved in. Maybe I'm just not used to the sewer yet. But, Raph, I kinda feel your pain—and Mitchell sometimes feels it, too—especially when I snap at him because I'm not feeling well." She patted her husband's shoulder, and he understandingly smiled at her.

"But I know we're not snapping turtles, we must be mutating into them or something…" Mitchell held her hand in his, while the others chuckled.

Lisa raised her hand, "I don't mean to change the tone, but I'm just glad that Venus is paying us a visit this morning." She put her arm around Venus, who was sitting right next to her. To Venus, she said, "Sorry to embarrass you, Venus, I'm just so proud that you got brave enough to come this morning."

There were some "vocal smiling sounds" from the others, and Eva was the first of everyone else to jump up and give Venus a hug.

Once they all sat down, Don asked for any more prayer requests, "Anyone else? OK, would anyone like to lead us in a prayer?"

An almost-shy hand went up. "Could I give it a try?" Mike asked.

Raph, surprised and proud after helping him "practice" earlier, patted Mike's shell enthusiastically.

"All right, Mikey…" Don gave the list of requests to his little brother.

"And remember, Mikey, if Mitzi snaps at me again tonight, I'm holding you personally responsible for not praying right," Mitchell sarcastically remarked with a wink at Mike.

It was Mitzi's turn to look surprised and playfully slap her husband's arm, while everyone laughed.

When the group was calmer, Mike looked around, "OK, let's pray…" he bowed his head and took the hands of Raph and Eva, who were on either side of him.

* * *

"OK, who wants to be first to spar with me?" Leo looked over his three brothers. "Come on, I _know_ you guys aren't afraid of getting your tails kicked."

"I'll jazz you up, Leo!" Raph volunteered in his usual arrogant manner.

Leo stammered cautiously, "But, Raph, are you sure you're not felling too sick to do this?"

"I'm feeling OK enough this morning that I wanna kick your shell around some."

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling like your old self. Weapons or no weapons?"

"Uhh…weapons, why not…" he drew a sai from its holder on the wall. "I need practice with weapons just to make sure I didn't get rusty while I was sick."

"Alright, weapons it is!" Leo took his place in the practice arena, ready to draw out his katana.

Mike pretended to announce the action as if he were broadcasting a sporting event at the stadium. _"Longtime champion Leo prepares for his rumble against his archrival, Raph. The challenger, Raph the…uh…Red steps up to the plate, waiting for the kick-off. And the fight is on!"_

Don continued, _"Whoa! Looks like this'll be a close one, folks! Even after being sick, Raph is really rumbling. But challenging Leo is still no walk in the park for him…"_

A little while later, Mike commented, _"The score is still tied, this game may go into overtime…"_

A whistle sounded from somewhere in the room.

"Huh?" The commentators and the athletes both paused and looked around for the source of the whistle. They then noticed Lisa standing in the dojo's doorway with a manila folder in hand.

"I don't mean to interrupt your program, boys, but I think you'll want to sit down for this." She had a concerned and supporting look on her face and seemed to focus her attention on Raph. "Raph, these are your results from the tests Donnie and I sent in. Would you like me to just break the news to you and Donnie, or with Mike and Leo?"

Raph thought about it and looked around at his brothers. Leo was standing closest to him, so he gave Raph a pat on the arm. Raph smiled back at him.

Turning back to Lisa, he decided, "Well, they're gonna ask me later, anyways. And I would do a crappy job of telling them with all the fancy medical stuff. I think they should hear this with me."

"OK, then," Lisa took out some papers from the envelope and settled comfortably on the floor, completing the circle the boys sat in.

She continued, "Raph, according to these results, you have what is known as 'Angelic's Disease'."

Raph's face froze in a confused expression.

"I knew I'd have to explain it, I never heard of it, myself," Lisa consoled. "It is an extremely rare disease caused by a nuclear virus that was injected directly into one of your organs."

Don chimed in, "Did this injection happen when Raph got captured by the Foot?"

Raph gasped and said, "I think that happened when I got taken to the basement. They hit my head so much; I couldn't do anything to resist them. I just remember them jabbing me with some big needle up my tail. I thought they were trying to impale me and that I was a goner for sure. I was surprised when they let me go."

"How did the Foot get a hold of this nuclear virus?" Don asked, "Is it contagious or fatal? What will happen to Raph?"

Lisa sighed, "To the first question, I don't know how the Foot got this nuclear virus, but Dr Perry says in here that the only other time in history this was seen was back in Chernobyl, Russia, when some terrorists experimented with this kind of bioterrorism on some of the survivors of the nuclear disaster in nineteen-eighty-six. So only fifteen other people—humans of course—have it in the entire world. They all live in a commune at a research center in Siberia that has been set up to study exclusively Angelic's Disease. The address is even included in here, for more information."

She checked Raph and the others and saw they were still anxious. She continued, "But to the other questions, this disease is fortunately not fatal, although certain complications may be, and luckily you don't have any complications." A synchronized sigh of relief sounded in the room.

"What kind of complications are we talking about, here?" Mike asked.

"Well," Lisa looked down at the notes, "Complications like diabetes, heart failure, cancer, end stage kidney failure, liver cirrhosis, serious systemic infections—stuff Raph doesn't have, that I'll learn more about how to treat in med school."

Lisa turned the page, "This disease is also not contagious through 'normal' means—friends, family members, even spouses and children may not get it from you—only if the nuclear virus is injected directly into a solid organ."

"_Solid_ organ?" Leo clarified, "As opposed to a fleshy or more fluid one?"

"Solid meaning not hollow," Lisa stated, "Like the liver or…" she trailed off in thought.

"So, which solid organ would that be for Raph, since they went up through his tail?" It was Leo again.

Raph put his hand over his face in embarrassment, "Leo…"

"It's OK," Lisa patted Raph's arm. "It could have been injected into the solid part of your prostate—that would explain the priapism."

"Huh?" Raph looked confused along with his brothers, except for Don.

Don looked at Lisa, "May I explain this to him?"

Lisa nodded, "He might be more comfortable that way…"

Leaning to Raph, Don whispered, "That was that painful 'guy problem' where it goes on without warning, and takes a long time to go off."

"Oh, thanks, Donnie." Raph nodded.

Mikey piped up, "What did he say?"

Donnie turned to face Mike, "I'll explain later…"

Raph pinched Don's arm, "Like shell you will."

"Ow!" Don rubbed his arm, and then whispered to Raph, "I could send him on a wild goose chase to look it up, himself, if you like."

"Oh, OK," Raph apologized to Don, "Sorry about that. Thanks, Donnie."

Don noticed Lisa drumming her fingers on the folder. "Oh, Lisa was just about to tell us the cure or what we live with until then…"

"Anyways," Lisa continued, "Answering Donnie's other questions, there is no definite cure, but all you can do is treat the symptoms. These Angelic's Disease symptoms are episodes of pain, starting in the injection area and growing out from there as time goes by—hence what Don just told to you—you can use ice packs and over-the-counter pain meds as you need them. Sometimes you may even feel nauseated or dizzy. A day of hard work and physical stress may make you fall unconscious in your sleep, and you may stay that way for a day or two. Fortunately the pain episodes may go on long vacations before they start up again. There may also be psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, nightmares, and even hallucinations as time goes by. You can always visit Donnie and me for help and support anytime you need. Any other questions or concerns I can help you with right now?"

Raph looked at Donnie, "Uhh… What's this thing called again?"

"Angelic's Disease," Lisa answered, "I think named for one of the researchers or someone like that… Anything else?"

"Angelic's Disease…OK." Raph thought about it and shook his head. "It's weird, I don't feel like this is really happening…"

Don put his arm around Raph as he took a deep breath. Don then looked at Lisa to explain, "Thanks for telling us, Lisa. Raph might need a moment to let the truth sink in. We'll come ask you any other questions later, if we think of any."

"Sure," Lisa smiled reassuringly, "I'm sorry to leave you with this life sentence, Raph, but if Donnie and I can help you through future episodes, we're here for you." She patted his arm as she got up.

"And at least it isn't a death sentence, Raph, it could be worse," Don consoled.

Raph looked up as Lisa started back to her clinic. "Thanks, Lisa." He managed to say as she left him with an encouraging smile as she left the dojo.

The second Lisa left, Splinter came in, wondering why his sons were just sitting instead of practicing. "My sons…"

"Lisa just told us the results of Raphael's medical tests," Leo stated. He went on to explain it to Splinter.

By the time he finished, Raph had buried his face in his hands. Splinter placed a hand on Raph's head, then knelt to his level and cradled him.

"I don't know what to do, or what to think," Raph stifled a sob as reality started to hit him. "This morning started out great and I forgot that I was ever sick. What's gonna happen to me? Usually if I go off and brood about my problems it helps, but I don't think that'll work for this. How will I tell Sheila?"

The brothers huddled around Raph, still in Splinter's arms, in a big group hug.

Leo whispered into Raph's ear, "I meant to tell you earlier, but thanks and good job for sparring with me. I had both a good challenge and a good time."

Raph lightly smiled back at him.


	4. Ch 4: Orientation

**How We Loved Them**

**About this story**: the sequel to "How We Met Them", the Mitchell Family (my OCs) and the TMNT (Who belonged to Mirage, and I think they belong to Nick now—well, it's anyone but me, that's all I know!). First 4 Chapters written before the 2k3 cartoon, but I'll try to update them—we'll see how this works. Rated T (PG-13), due to some adult conversations and situations.

**Warnings about this chapter**: Based on a rough draft written on June 18, 2002. Contains some illness stuff (again, not graphic, I just wanted to state it for anyone with a lower stomach tolerance level), and several spiritual references (stated for anyone with a lower "churchy" tolerance level). But it should be hopefully less of both of those than the previous chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Orientation**

"There, this room is just right, now," Mike stepped back to admire the finishing touches he and Raph just added to the dorm room they moved into a few days ago.

"Well done, Mr. Martha Stewart," Raph stood next to Mike and put an arm around his shoulders. "I think I'll feel at home here for a few months, though it isn't quite like the sewer."

"It's a guys' dorm, so there's not much of a difference!" They both laughed.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_ "Room check!" Someone outside called.

"For some reason, his voice sounds familiar…" Raph tried to remember.

"Of course, Raph, that's because he's our RA—but you weren't there when I got our room keys from him," Mike replied as he slipped on a trench coat and turned out the lights before opening the door. Raph wondered to himself how long a trick like that would keep anyone from discovering their true identity.

The RA went on once Mike slowly and slightly opened the door, "Sorry if I caught you guys in the middle of a good nap, but I need the two of you to sign some papers that say everything works in your room and other stuff like that." He handed Mike a clipboard.

Raph was peering around Mike the whole time so he could get a good look at his new Resident Assistant, who seemed somewhat familiar, but he just couldn't think why.

The RA asked Mike, "Your roommate is here, isn't he?"

Raph spoke up from behind Mike, "Yeah, I'm here. I'm Raphael, and who are you?"

The RA seemed surprised, "Raphael? I'm Jason Turnbow, and the last guy I met named Raphael talked exactly like you—with the same voice and accent. Wait a minute! You're not the same Raphael who Sheila and the others in the Mitchell family went with, are you?"

"As a matter of fact, Sheila and the rest of the Mitchell family _do_ live with me. Now I know who you are—you're the same Jason who knew them back in their old neighborhood!"

"That's exactly who I am!"

"Why don't you come on in? Then, Mike, you can turn the lights on, 'cuz he already knows us."

Jason came in, while Mike shut the door behind him and turned on the lights.

Raph went on, "So, Jason, you met me several months ago, when the Mitchell family moved in with us." He waited until Jason nodded to continue, "But you didn't meet my brother, Michelangelo—or Mikey, until just a few days ago."

"Yeah, but when I did meet him, I had no idea he was a big turtle, or that he was any relation to you," Jason said as he shook hands with Mike, while trying to get used to the fact that his hand was green with only three fingers on it.

"So, Jase-dude," Mike asked, "How did you end up as an RA here?"

"Well, I took a few summer classes here while I got my own apartment off-campus," he explained, "I moved over here 'cuz I was tired of the gangs in the ghetto, and I wanted to make a better life for myself—ever since I last met you. But it got too hard to keep up with the rent in the off-campus apartment, and since I already had some classes here, they'd let me stay in the dorm on a pretty generous scholarship if I became an RA starting this Fall. It's been much better ever since. So how did you guys end up here?"

Raph answered, "My brothers and I have been taking correspondence courses in our own home-school setting since we got into the high school age-group. We thought it would be a good growth experience if we could finish our college classes here."

"How many more brothers do you have?" Jason wanted to know.

"Just two," Mike pointed to the wall on the side closest to the door. "They're rooming right next door to us."

"Leo and Donnie?" Jason asked. When Raph and Mike nodded, he said, "That explains why they had their lights out, too, and they seemed so quiet."

Mike laughed, "Yeah, they're the quieter, more studious guys all the time. Raph and me are the wild, goof-off guys. They're gonna be the ones telling us to be quiet throughout the year."

Jason sighed, "I think I mostly fall on the goof-off side, myself, it's a stretch for me to handle college stuff, but I'm gonna try. I like all kinds of sports if you guys ever wanna hang-out. I might even let you come over to my room if I decide to watch movies and eat pizza."

That got Mike's attention. "Did you just say 'pizza'? Dude, I live for pizza! Raph and I would love to come over, sometime. But we'd prolly wanna bring our bros along, so you'd better order plenty of pies for all of us."

"I'll do that, Mikey, as long as you split the tab," Jason nodded, "I'm glad that I found some guys that I've sort of known before, especially ones that like pizza and movies. Ya know, I once kinda dated a girl Turtle named Lisa, only we didn't have the same taste in movies, pizza, or any other type of fun; and since then I never would'a dreamed I'd meet another Turtle person who was into a pizza and movie party. So I look forward to hangin' out with you guys."

"Yeah, same here!" Mike wheezed, "We never thought we'd find another bro among the human culture." He slapped Jason's hand in a combined high-three/high-five.

Raph was a little surprised, "That's funny imagining you dating Lisa."

"I know," Jason shrugged, "I'm prolly the reason why she became such a femi-Nazi over the years."

"I remember she was a big femi-Nazi when she first moved in with us," Raph filled-in, "but now she gets along better with us, fellas. She's even dating Donnie, and looking like she's having a good time with him. She's also been accepted to the med school program here."

"I'm glad to hear that," Jason nodded, "And how are the other Mitchells?"

"Eva's been seeing me, and majoring in nursing." Mike cut in, "And Sheila's with Raph. Their parents are getting along well with our dad, who happens to be a rat, believe it or not."

"Oh, I'm not sure if I don't believe in anything, anymore, now. I've had a good time chattin' with you Turtle dudes—you're pretty cool. I have to get back to my room checking, but I'll be sure to come back again."

"Wait!" Raph and Mike both jumped up before Jason left. Raph went on, "Uh, Jase, _please_ try to keep it a secret that we're Turtles, you know, us _and_ the guys next door. We're not sure how other humans will take it, so _please_ keep our secret safe."

Jason winked as he took up their signed room-check papers and carefully opened the door to leave. "Sure, you bet I'll keep your secret! Besides, who would help me pay the tab for pizza and movie parties?"

* * *

When Mike answered the knock at the door on Sunday morning, he opened it to see Don outside, wearing black dress pants and shoes, a white dress shirt, and carrying his Bible under the crook of his arm. He asked Mike, "Ready to go pick up the girls and head to our first church service mixed with humans?"

"Uh, I'm not sure," Mike stammered. He was wearing khaki slacks, white tennis shoes, and a white undershirt showing underneath his faded orange and white Hawaiian flowery shirt. "You're sure there's a balcony at the Campus Ministries Church?"

"I'm pretty sure," Don assured him, "I know it's such a big church that we could blend in if we sat near the back, anyway. Raph, are you ready?" He looked around Mike to find Raph.

Raph was looking in the mirror, fixing his red necktie that he was wearing with a blue denim dress shirt, khaki slacks, and brown dress shoes. He picked up his Bible and called back to Don, "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Look at you, Raph!" Don admired.

Raph beamed, slightly reluctantly, "Yeah…I just hope no one confuses me with the preacher. Casey actually helped me get this outfit, so I could have something to wear for a more classy date with Sheila."

"Well, that's pretty much the story behind this outfit—date-wear with Lisa," Don shrugged, "But it works."

The three of them soon headed down to the lobby area to wait for the girls. All four of them arrived not long after the guys did. They had to pack into the hummer as best they could—the best way was for Don to drive with the girls in the other seats, while Mike and Raph rode in the back.

Once they parked in the church's parking lot, they were able to sneak in by blending with a herd of other college students and some of the youth group. The balcony was open and not too full, which made it a great place for the Turtles to sit. They sat down just in time for the first song.

Sometime into the second song, some latecomers—two girls, who at first looked like regular late high school-aged or early college-aged girls, crept shyly into the balcony area. It just so happened that they sat on the pew with the Turtles, and their faces lit up as if they recognized the Green Gang.

The Turtles had all seven pairs of their eyes on these girls since they entered the balcony, but finally realized whom they were when they sat down. They were Cristin Blake and Sarah Mann!

It was harder to recognize them now, all dressed up in their Sunday best, and looking much healthier. The only hint of their previous imprisonment was that they both had purplish blotches and a few small scars on their skin that they attempted to cover up with make-up. Their hair still looked thin, but it was a lot thicker than it was when they were pulled out of the dungeon. Their cute, short haircuts made it look thicker and healthier, too.

A few joyful mouthed greetings were exchanged between the Turtles and the rescued ex-captives, but they didn't really get a chance to talk until after the worship service.

Then, words weren't the only thing exchanged—hugs were also involved!

"Well, look at you two," Mike marveled, "You girls look great!"

Cristin and Sarah beamed and laughed a little.

"Are both of you going to the university here?" Don asked.

They nodded and Sarah spoke for both of them, "Yeah, after spending the first part of our summer in a dungeon, and then in the hospital, we got only a little more than a month of summer vacation. And here we are, back at school. But at least this time it's college. It would be a pain to go to high school another year." They all laughed.

"Maybe we'll see each other around," Eva wondered. "We're also starting our college experience there—even though we've had correspondence courses from here before. This is the first time we get to experience it from the dorms."

"Are all of you in the freshmen dorm—the one with the guys' wing and girls' wing—too?" Cristin asked.

The Turtles all nodded.

Cristin laughed, "Then maybe we _will_ bump into you guys more often!"

"Say…do either of you have lunch plans?" Lisa inquired.

Sarah remembered, "Well, our RA already invited us to eat with the rest of her sorority at Mama Mia's. Their brother frat eats with them, and this lunch thing at Mama Mia's is what they do every Sunday after church. But lunch is open to anyone interested in or friends with the club. We also heard from our RA that this is a non-denominational Christian-friendly club, so that's another thing that makes them more appealing to us."

Cristin finished, "If you guys don't have other lunch plans, you can come with us."

The seven Turtles all exchanged looks before Don concluded, "Sounds good to us. But is it OK if we stop by the dorm first, 'cuz we'd like to take Leo with us, and get anything else we might need—like cash."

"Sure, that's fine," agreed the human girls.

Raph had one last question, "Did either of you come in a car? 'Cuz I'm afraid we don't have much room in ours."

"Yeah," Cristin answered him, "We came in her car." She gestured to Sarah, "And there's prolly enough room for three or four more."

Don theorized, "Could the girls ride with you so we'll have enough room for Leo, before we follow you over to Mama Mia's?"

"Oh yeah," Sarah was pretty sure. "It's more of an SUV than a 'car'—only the gas mileage is _way_ better than in an SUV."

As they headed for the parking lot, Sarah asked, "So why didn't Leo come to church with you?"

"Lots of reasons," Don sighed. "One is that he's the least comfortable mixing with humans, and he also hasn't bought into Christianity yet. But we pray and figure he'll come around someday."

Nearly an hour later, all eight Turtles were mingling with the Christian-friendly fraternity, Omega, and their sister sorority, Lambda. At first they were uneasy about mixing with humans, but Sarah and Cristin were able to cover for them and get the human college students to accept the Turtle college students. It was hard on the humans' part as well, but they somehow got the impression that the Turtles were "guinea pigs" in radiation experiments like their human friends, and that was a much easier story to digest than the complex story of what really happened.

But on into lunch, the Turtles were making new friends and finding kindred spirits among the co-eds. Some were starting to leave Mama Mia's for other afternoon plans.

Mike excitedly ran up to where Raph was quietly sitting. "Hey, bro, guess what? Some of the frat guys are going skateboarding this afternoon, and they said I could co with them. You can come too, if you'd like."

Raph gazed up at Mike with an exhausted look on his face. "Gee, Mikey, if I was really feeling OK right now, I'd love to go skating with you and our new buds. But I feel more like a nap instead."

Mike touched his shoulder, and his tone changed to a more concerned one, "Is that Angelic's Disease thing coming back to haunt you? I'm so sorry, I…I didn't know…"

"It's all right," Raph interrupted. "I'll skate with you guys some other time. This is another one of those times when you need to go out and have fun for both of us." He gave Mike a gentle punch on the shoulder and a wink.

Mike smiled back, relieved that Raph was not sore about it. "Have fun napping, Raph, and I'll have fun skating!"

* * *

"You know, Raph," Sheila began as she looked up from her textbook and notes, "If it weren't for college, we would probably never have these romantic study-dates in the student center like we are now."

"Yeah," Raph admitted, "but I'd still like 'em better without the school work."

"Me too," agreed Sheila. Then she decided to change the subject. "How do you manage to keep up with classes, especially during your Angelic's Disease episodes?"

"I go to class when I can, and then when I can't, I call up or email my friends in that class and get notes. I also call or email the teachers if I need to. And there's also the course homepages online…wow, I'm talking like Donnie… Luckily, I've only had to miss two days of each class, and those times were nearly a month apart. But I'm getting more anxious as the weather gets colder, since that may make the episodes come more often and with more intensity."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sheila patted his hand and rubbed his shoulder. "But if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

Raph gave her a hug. "Thanks, Sheila." After enjoying the hug for a few more seconds, he offered, "Would you like a soda for the rest of the study-date? I'm getting thirsty."

"That would be nice, Raph."

He got up from the couch to get in line at the student center concession stand, which was just around the corner. It was only an innocent five minutes before Raph had a soda for himself and Sheila, then he was heading back around the corner to the couch where Sheila was still waiting for him.

Rounding the corner, Raph caught sight of Sheila, who was still on the couch right where he left her; only someone else was sitting where he sat only moments before. It was a guy about Raph's size who was wearing a flannel shirt, jeans, and an odd-looking black fishing hat.

"_Huh, must be a friend from one of her classes_," he thought to himself, until he heard some of the conversation.

The guy said something while slipping an arm around Sheila's shoulders. It was something too quiet for Raph to hear, but he could tell it made Sheila uncomfortable, since she had this disgusted look on her face.

She tried to nudge the guy away with her elbow while saying, "Why don't you just go back to the backwoods, Jimmy?" She pretended to be more absorbed in her class notes.

Jimmy said, "Sure I'll go back to my backwoods, but not without taking you along with me, Sugar." He moved in a little more as he said this, against more of Sheila's protesting nudges.

Raph decided it was time to intervene. He strode up to them, trying to make himself look as big as possible, to hopefully intimidate the guy into leaving, without causing much of a scene.

"Excuse me, sir," Jimmy looked up, "Hi, I'm Raphael, by the way, I'm also her study-buddy," he motioned to Sheila. "And I believe that is _my_ seat you're in, and _my_ girlfriend you're sitting with. And we have some important studying that we need to do, if you please."

Jimmy stood up, realized he was a little smaller than Sheila's boyfriend, so he just slowly walked away, trying to look innocent. He gave an arrogant wave before he completely turned around.

When he was gone, Raph questioningly looked at Sheila, who sighed with relief. "Thanks for getting rid of him, Raph. That guy is such a creep."

"Who is he, anyway?" Raph wondered.

"That's Jimmy Eikron, some redneck in one of my classes. His old girlfriend ditched him a few weeks ago, so now he's so desperate that he's been hitting on all the girls he sees, in hope that he'll pick up one of them."

Raph added, "And I thought he was only trying the ones like you, who are _way_ out of his league. I know because you're out of my league, and I could take him down."

Sheila beamed and laughed before continuing. "His ex-girlfriend was thinking about pledging Lambda, so she's met Cristin, Sarah, and my Turtle sisters and me. She had really been upset, so we talked to her and asked what was wrong, and she told us of the hard time she had dating him. After hearing some of her stories, we concluded that she was being emotionally abused and convinced her to break up with him. Now we're in the process of helping her recover from her creepy ex-boyfriend."

"Well, I'm glad you're alright," Raph said with concern as he sat down. "Here's your drink."

"Thanks again, Raph. Now, where were we…" She searched her notes as she took a sip of her soda.

* * *

Rush Week. Raph groaned as he rolled over in bed. It was barely ten o'clock at night. He wouldn't be in bed this early unless Angelic's Disease was attacking him with another episode—which was exactly what was happening.

Raph would've much rather been out participating in the Rush Week activity with Mike and the other Omega pledges. "_Whatever hazing they're going through is prolly nothin' compared to the torture Angelic's Disease is inflicting on me_," he thought.

He rolled over in pain again, trying to find the least painful position to sleep in.

Raph mumbled to himself, "_Why is this illness called 'Angelic's Disease', anyway? No angel from heaven would give this torture to anyone, or else that angel would be sent straight to…_"

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_ A migraine-inducing knock on the door interrupted Raph's thoughts—and his hope for falling asleep soon.

He managed to moan, "Coming!" as he limped to the door clutching a pillow to his middle.

"Yes…" he mumbled in a tone that he tried to make sound friendly as he opened the door, before he really saw who was there.

"Raph?" Two familiar voices asked.

Raph smiled in spite of his pain. "Hey, Leo! Donnie! Come on in!"

As they did so, Leo noticed Raph's limping—and the pillow he was using as a "shield". "Oh, Raph, are you having one of your episodes?" He slipped an arm around Raph to help him back into bed as soon as he heard Raph grunt.

Raph was soon tucked back into bed, only now Leo was lying propped on an elbow next to him and Don was sitting on what was left of the space on Raph's bed.

"So, what brings you bros in here?" Raph asked his two visitors, "Besides keeping me company?"

"We have something we need to tell you," Leo stated, "Only we were hoping to tell you and Mikey at the same time. But since Mikey's not here…"

"Where is Mikey, by the way?" Don spoke up.

Raph explained, "He's doing some pledging activity with the other Omega frat guys. I would be out with them, too, if I weren't sick. Luckily the pledge-master understands and says that I can come when I can. Mike gives me the heads-up on what's going on. Our girlfriends are also pledging, so I don't have anyone to talk to or hang out with tonight."

"Aww, poor Little Raphie!" Leo gave Raph a noogie as he lisped this.

"But we may have some news to cheer you up," Don hinted. Looking at Leo, he asked, "Should we tell him, now?"

Leo thought about it, "Well, we can tell Mike later. Raph might wanna know while he's awake. So, OK, we'll tell him now."

Raph was puzzled this whole time. "What's going on?"

Leo and Don both looked at each other, and then back at Raph to announce—"We're engaged!"

Raph sat up in surprise, "Really? Wow! Congratulations to both of you!" Then, trying to poke fun at his brothers, he smirked, "I'm sure you two will make a fine couple, but I'm worried about what the kids will look like."

"Oh, Raph!" They laughed.

Raph went back to lying down. "So, how did you pop the question to the girls?"

"Venus and I were in the gym," Leo began, "We were sparring with each other. At one point we took a break. During that break, we discussed certain things like how we were to lead future practices, of course with me leading the guys' practice and her leading the girls'.

"As she was turning to go back to the sparring area, I took the ring box out of my gym bag and got on one knee. I said, 'Wait, Venus de Milo, there's something else about the future I wanna ask you about. Would you do me the honor of spending your future as my wife?' Of course by this point, she's starting to get teary-eyed. And she says, 'Oh, Leonardo, of course I will!' And she just starts hugging and kissing me.

"I know the padded room in the gym isn't exactly anyone's idea of a traditional, romantic setting for proposing. But that's one reason I chose it, since it would _really_ catch her by surprise."

"That's cool, though," Raph admitted. "That's a way to give a classic moment your personal touch." He then looked at Don. "What about you, Donnie?"

Don smiled remembering _his_ wonderful moment. "Lisa and I were in the computer lab in the library. It was our idea of a study-date at first. We were talking via Instant Messenger for a while. At first we weren't alone; there were a few people in the lab area, but after a while, the people left and we were alone. We were at computer stations that were right next to each other, but I IM-ed her—'Lisa Love, there's something I wanna ask you…' She IM-ed back, 'What is it, Donnie Dearest?' That's when I typed, 'Will you marry me?' I then took the ring box out of my pocket, hit 'Send', and got on one knee. She looked back at me to see if I was serious, totally surprised. Then I saw her get back to her computer and type. I looked back at my screen and saw a big string of 'yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!!!' And she got on the floor with me to hug and kiss me, and try the ring on. It was that moment that the computer lab attendant walked in to see what the commotion was all about, probably thinking something was wrong with the way our computers were plugged in. She asked 'What's the problem?' And Lisa just said, 'Oh, nothing, we just got engaged, that's all.' The attendant just laughed and congratulated us. It was a nice, nerdy-romantic story with a funny twist at the end."

Raph chuckled around some Angelic's Disease pain that started up again. "And both of you proposed tonight?"

They both nodded, and Don clarified, "Within two hours ago."

"Did you both plan this, or did you just so happen to propose on the same night?"

Leo explained, "We had both been talking about it in our room for the past two or so weeks, planning when we should propose. We even went together to buy the rings."

Raph rolled over and moaned. "I'm not trying to spoil the moment, I'm just sick. I really am happy for both of you, bros."

Don and Leo leaned in to hug Raph, with mixed feelings of joy over their engagements and sympathy for their ill brother.

"In a way," Raph began as the pain calmed a little, "It's kind of a scary thought to see you two engaged. I didn't know you were that serious about Venus and Lisa that you now plan to marry them. It makes me realize that I might be asking the same question to Sheila someday. It makes me feel kinda depressed thinking of how we've just been seeing each other in a not-so-serious fashion. The way you guys have such mature relationships makes me realize how immature I am."

Leo assured him, "There's no pressure, Little Bro, just whenever you feel the time is right and you _really_ know that you don't wanna lose her."

"Until then," Don suggested, "You can get ready by praying about the timing of it, whether you're ready for it, and whether she's ready for it. And being 'serious' doesn't mean that you don't have any fun together or that you get physical too soon, it's when you feel like she's such a part of your life and you are a part of hers that you realize you can't live without each other."

* * *

A/N: For anyone who now feels like making a doctor's appointment to see if you might possibly have Angelic's Disease: don't panic. Sorry to disappoint, but I made up that illness, or actually dreamed it up at least back in 1997ish. And the Chernobyl incident seemed like a believable backdrop for terrorists to unleash the virus. However, I didn't make up the term "priapism", it really is a medical term and a real symptom—usually accompanying sickle-cell anemia. (That was more mentioned back in Chapter 3, but there was a little of it in this Chapter.) I just thought I would clarify that.

The names for the fraternity and sorority mentioned are partly inspired by some real-life experience. I was in a club (sorority) called "Lambda Omega Alpha" when I was in undergrad college at Lubbock Christian University. Here is the address to a pic on my Deviant Art page where the TMNT are saluting the clubs at the school (without the spaces): http:// loaturtle00. deviantart. com/ art/ TMNT-in-LCU-Club-Colors-2010-155123219. My club is the one Leo is saluting (and our brother club, Kyodai). So that is where the Omega frat and Lambda sorority got their names.

Oh, and the "creep", Jimmy Eikron? In reality I had a "stalker-ex-boyfriend" follow me to LCU (just twisted his name for the story), and he usually wore a black cowboy hat, so he was hard to miss.


	5. Ch 5: Crunch Time

**How We Loved Them**

**About this story**: the sequel to "How We Met Them", the Mitchell Family (my OCs) and the TMNT (Who belonged to Mirage, and now they belong to Nick). First 4 Chapters written before the 2k3 cartoon, but I'll try to update them—we'll see how this works. Rated T (PG-13), due to some adult conversations and situations.

**About this chapter**: This chapter was never a rough draft written in a journal, like the previous chapters. It was originally going to be called "Nuclear Fall-Out!" and would contain a really bad argument between two people & an accident happening to one of those people in the aftermath. (I don't want to spoil anything, since I may keep some of the original ideas). This chapter is rated T (PG-13) for containing some adult and semi-adult conversations involving some sexual/medical references, spiritual/religious references, as well as a few allusions to torture. A few conversations in this chapter may push the limits of the PG-13 rating, so I apologize in advance.

I originally planned to write this starting January 12, 2003, but never got any further than the chapter title. For the first time, I will attempt to type the completed chapter rather than hand-write it. Even though I was going in a different direction with my stories than with the Mitchell family, I wanted to finish the story I started all those years ago. Then I hope to continue writing more in light of "What Could Go Wrong?" and "Did We Just…?" So, here it is…10 ½ years & 3 TMNT genres (2k3, 2007 CGI, & 2012 Nick) overdue…

* * *

**Chapter 5: Crunch Time**

"Hang in there, Raph, we're almost to your dorm room." Sheila adjusted her arm around Raph's waist, while he adjusted his arm around her shoulders. "We're almost up the stairs, so don't pass out on me yet."

Once they made it to the second floor, Sheila guided him as he staggered and limped.

"Whew! Thank you so much, Sheila." Raph said once they made it inside Raph's dorm room. "Please don't take this comment the wrong way, but you're so much stronger than I thought—almost carrying me halfway across campus and up the stairs like you did. I'm impressed!"

"Well, Splinter and Venus have been training me since a little after we met, and I've lost fat in some places, and gained muscle in others. Although I'm glad you could walk, since it still took a lot out of me helping you across campus. I couldn't imagine having to actually _carry_ you. Besides, a lot of my energy was already sapped from Lambda pledging and initiation." Sheila helped Raph sit on his bed.

Raph motioned to the mini-fridge and freezer unit across the room. "If you want a drink from there, we might still have a few sodas left. Just help yourself!"

"Sure, thanks!" Sheila got up to make her way to the unit. "Want me to get you anything while I'm there?"

"Okay, I'll drink whatever you're having, I'm not picky—oh, and the icepack would also help." He noticed her selecting two canned sodas from the fridge, and the icepack from the freezer, and then she just stopped completely and seemed to stare at the corkboard on the wall behind the fridge unit that Raph shared with Mikey. "Uh, what are you doing?"

Sheila seemed to laugh at something on the board before turning around to Raph. She pointed to a calendar. "I'm guessing this is Mikey's?"

Raph rolled his eyes. "Definitely. You are welcome to look at it, since that _is_ your sister on every page."

Sheila took it off the wall, and carried it over to Raph's bed along with the drinks and icepack. "Oh, here's a drink for you, and your icepack."

"Thanks, again." Raph accepted the can while slightly curled up with a pillow in his lap. He slipped the icepack under the pillow. "Ah, that's better…" He took a sip from the soda and said, "Sorry about making us leave the initiation party a little early."

"It's not like you could help it." Sheila took a sip from her drink. Changing the subject, she flipped through a few pages of the calendar. "So, did Mikey just use a swimsuit calendar, cut out pictures of Eva's face, then glue them over the models' faces?"

"Pretty much." Raph chuckled, then turned one of the pages to point out, "A few of them he even took a green marker or highlighter and tried to color the girl's skin green."

"That pic actually looks like Eva, or maybe what she'd look like in a bikini instead of a shell. Has she seen this?"

"I imagine so." Raph took another sip of soda. "She may have actually signed one of the pics—either last month's or her birth month—to look like some celebrity actually autographed it."

Sheila flipped back to May, and chuckled at the sight of another green-skinned swimsuit model with Eva's face. She read Eva's autograph, with hearts floating around it and used to dot the "i's" in the words, "To My Pumpkin, Mikey. Love, Your Dovekin, Eva." She looked over at Raph, and they both burst out laughing. When the laughter subsided, Sheila shook her head, "That's not quite as bad as _her_ similar 'art project'."

Sipping around his soda, Raph asked, "Why? What did she do?"

Sheila laughed again, "She went through some catalogs that sell kid stuff, and tried coloring some of them green to imagine what her and Mikey's kids would look like—all twenty-nine of them." She added sarcastically, "I'm sure every nursing major is required to do that at some point."

Raph looked surprised, "Seriously? She wants twenty-nine kids? Oh, Mikey sure hit the jackpot on that one."

"She told me that Mikey seemed a little freaked out when she first said that, but then seemed to get used to the idea and was like, 'Whatever My Dovekin wants…I'll just have to get a really good job'." She even attempted a comical impression of Mikey talking mushy toward the end.

Raph laughed and put his arm around Sheila's shoulders. "Awww, you sound just like my little bro right now, only you are _much_ better looking."

She leaned against his shoulder, and then turned her face to look over at Raph. "Are you feeling better, yet? Sorry to change the fun subject…"

Raph shrugged, "Well…better than I felt when this episode first attacked. Congratulations to me for making it through Omega pledging and initiation. How about being rewarded with a dizzy spell and a painful hard-on? At least it's starting to go off by now…" He glanced over to see if Sheila was as uneasy as he felt. "What an awkward conversation…"

Sheila sighed, "Not that talking about my horrible experience was much of a picnic for you when we first met. But I suppose this conversation about your 'guy problem' is karmal payback for all the times I've asked if you could get me some Midol, or something like that for my girly problems. Oh well…I love you anyways, Raph, and working through these problems with you is just one thing that keeps me caring and sympathetic for you. Kinda like a 'Nightingale Effect' of sorts. It's been worth it so far…experiencing the bad as well as the good with you."

"Awww, that's so sweet of you, Sheila." Raph leaned in to hug her, still with one arm so he wouldn't spill what was left of their drinks. "And I love you and enjoy caring for you, too. We make a great team looking out for each other."

She hugged him back, "Yeah…still, a part of me feels guilty about seeing you having Angelic's Disease episodes. I mean…you practically took a bullet—or a needle, in this case—for me. No harm happened to me that night we got captured. It all fell on you."

Raph shrugged, "Well, like your dad has said that God wouldn't lead us into anything He knows we can't handle without His help, He must've known you had enough to deal with, and maybe that this was a trial for me. But thanks for helping weather the storm with me. It at least feels like I'm not as alone in this as I first thought I was."

Sheila smiled up at Raph, "You're so brave about this. Yet you aren't so self-sufficiently brave that you don't ask for help. Wow! I can already see God working in you throughout this whole thing. And you're even kinda sexy when you're vulnerable."

"It is definitely a learning experience in humility, that's for sure. But I'm so glad to have you, and my brothers, sisters, and parents all willing to help me through this. I guess that's the silver lining." He used the finger of his free hand to stroke the edge of Sheila's silvery mask. "…And so is this!"

They both laughed and smiled at each other for a few seconds. Raph moved his head toward Sheila's, and they shared a sweet, gentle kiss on the lips for a few seconds more.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Raph and Sheila jumped back in surprise from their kiss as Mikey opened the door to the room.

"Hey…I saw you two leave early from the party, and thought maybe I'd find you here. Then I saw the light was on in our room, and I knew for sure. I hope I'm not interrupting anything, because I also brought company."

Eva walked around from behind Mikey, "There you are, Sheila, you naughty girl. Just what were you doing alone with Raph in his room?"

Sheila rubbed Raph's shoulder, "He was having a painful episode, and I helped him get to his room OK. Besides, that's big talk from someone who posed shell-less for all twelve months of a swimsuit calendar…" She smirked and held up the calendar, while she and Raph laughed.

"Ah, Mikey's masterpiece…" She leaned her head against Mikey's shoulder, reminiscing. "And the crowning glory of my modeling career…"

"Well, you did a great job at your 'photo shoot' that I took." Mikey put his arm around Eva. "You made all the facial expressions to match the wannabes in the calendar. None of them could compare to you, My Dovekin!" He nuzzled her cheek.

She turned to face him so that they were nose-to-nose, nuzzling him back. "My Pumpkin!"

Raph pretended to gag, "Ewww…my stomach!"

Another voice behind Mikey and Eva said, "Hey, Mikey, enough with the PDA—you're forgetting about your visitor!"

Mikey looked back, "Oh, sorry, Jason. Bring him on in!"

Jason turned towards the hall to say, "We found Raph—he's been in his room the whole time."

Casey Jones walked into the room, "Raph the 'social butterfly'? Alone in his room?"

"Hey, Casey!" Raph smiled. "Who says I'm alone?"

Casey waved when he finally saw Sheila. "Hey, Sheila! Do I need to ask what you're doing in here? Or is it none of my business? Heh, heh…"

"Oh, you're not interrupting anything, Casey." Sheila assured. "Raph was limping and feeling lightheaded during the initiation party, so once we found a good time to leave, I helped ensure he got back to his room. We're just chillin' now…no pun intended, since he has an icepack under the pillow."

"What did they do to you at this party?" Casey wanted to know.

"They were great." Raph shrugged, "The need for an icepack has been coming and going because of an illness I've had since June. It's a long story that Donnie can explain better than I can. Anyways, I'm feeling a little better than I was about an hour ago. So, what brings you here, Casey?"

"I was talking with Splinter last week, he said he was really missing everyone who was away at college. I was curious about how your college experience was going. Before you know it, we were talking about me paying a weekend visit so I could deliver care packages, hang out a little, and hopefully report back to him that all is well."

"That's great!" Raph smiled, "Are you gonna sleep in here on the floor with Mikey and me?"

Jason spoke up, "I've got an inflatable mattress in my room you're welcome to use, if this is where you want to sleep."

Casey shrugged, "Sure, that would work. Let me go back to the van and get my stuff—and the care packages. Don't go anywhere, Sheila and Eva. That way I can have less care packages to deliver tomorrow."

Eva looked at Sheila, then said, "That's OK, we can help Jason set up the air mattress."

"Yay! Slumber party!" Mikey cheered. "Do you need any help carrying stuff, Casey?"

"Sure, thanks!" Casey shrugged as he and Mikey left the room.

Sheila stood up and put her arms around Raph's shoulders. "Well, it looks like Eva and I are going to go back to our room once Casey brings us our care packages. I hope you'll be OK."

"Not that being sick was how I planned on spending Friday night…" Raph shrugged. "But thanks for everything, Sheila. Have a good night."

Jason came in carrying the folded-up air mattress and the air pump. "OK, where do you want me to set this?"

"This would probably work." Said Eva as she motioned to the middle of the room. She and Jason proceeded to setting up the mattress.

With another hug for Raph, Sheila smiled, "You have a good night and a happy slumber party." She glanced toward Jason, and then added with a slight giggle as a whisper in Raph's ear, "And it might not be a good idea to tell Casey that your RA was once a Purple Dragon."

Raph laughed, "Mum's the word."

* * *

Raph rolled over in his bed on Saturday afternoon and glanced around the room. He saw Mikey sitting on his own bed, eating a bowl of cereal, humming and nodding his head to the beat of whatever music was playing on his iPod. Sometimes his gaze would wander towards the small TV, which was muted and playing a hockey game.

Raph chuckled to himself, "Casey prolly has the remote." He glanced on the floor and saw an empty air mattress with unkempt sheets strewn about it. There was no sign of Casey anywhere in the room.

"Where's that Bonehead Casey?" Raph muttered as he sat up slowly and stretched.

"Oh, you're up!" Mikey took out the ear-buds and let them hang around his shoulders. "Casey went to deliver the other care packages to Donnie, Leo, then Venus and Lisa. He left about fifteen minutes ago. I decided to stay here to have breakfast—or lunch, or whatever this is—and make sure you were OK. Are you feeling OK, Bro?"

Raph slowly stood up. "Still a little groggy, but I could use a bowl of cereal." He walked over to prepare his own bowl of cereal.

Mikey took a few bites and watched Raph return to sitting on the side of his bed with a bowl of cereal. "So, Raph, do you think you'll be able to play in that intramural roller-hockey game tonight?"

"Hmmm," Raph thought as he chewed a bite. Once he swallowed, he told Mikey, "Maybe. I'm still kinda tired."

"But we need you—we're playing Delta, the big-shot campus jocks. And when I told the other Omegas that you were one tough hockey player, they immediately put you on the roster for this game and were like, 'Maybe we'll actually have a shot at beating Delta this year.' But I was a little worried about your health getting in the way, especially since the episodes come a lot more. Is it just gonna keep getting worse and worse?"

"Well, Donnie and Lisa have told me that the episodes may be more intense or more frequent during the colder, darker months of the year. But as far as they've read, these episodes tend to let up when it's brighter and warmer. That's why the other people with Angelic's Disease at the Siberian commune have a large indoor atrium with a greenhouse."

"Oh…" Mikey still looked a little confused. "But why spend all that money building a big state-of-the-art indoor 'backyard', wouldn't it be cheaper just to move them all to Hawaii?"

Raph laughed, "Looks like someone's learned a little something in his economics class. I guess the researchers didn't want to all relocate, and it was easier than switching from Russian to learning English."

"But if they go to Hawaii, the language is so much simpler. I mean, seven consonants and five vowels, and it's pretty much _aloha_ for 'hi' and 'bye', then _mahalo_ for just about everything else."

"Someone has also learned some things in those geography or international culture classes, or something like that. Besides, I think the research facility just moved everybody into an old building that was either some indoor stadium or hotel in a past life." He took a few more bites of his cereal.

Mikey also took a few more bites, and then asked, "Are you feeling more up to playing hockey tonight?"

"I guess…" Raph shrugged.

"Come on, Bro! I know you miss hockey. And physical activity is good for boosting serotonin and making you feel better. So don't wait until you feel better to play, play to make yourself feel better." He noticed Raph raise a ridge of his mask that counted as an eyebrow, so he nodded, "That's right—I also learned stuff in my psychology class."

Raph chuckled, "Ah, who says Liberal Arts majors are totally useless? OK, you've talked me into playing hockey tonight. Those Deltas are going down!"

"Yay!" Mikey cheered as he jumped up over the air mattress to hug Raph. "Now that's the Raph I know and love!"

_**RRIIIIIIINNNNGGG!**_ It was the landline phone.

Raph was slightly closer to the phone, so he picked it up. Before he could actually answer, a girly voice said, "Pumpkin? Pumpkin! I missed you…"

Raph rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Hang on, Eva, here's Mikey." He handed the phone to his brother.

Mikey accepted the phone excitedly, "Dovekin! What's happening? …I miss you, too, Babe… I love you, Eva! …No, I love _you_ more… No, I love _you_ more…" He made some smacking and kissing sounds to emphasize his point.

Raph sat on his bed and groaned, "I'm getting nauseated! Mikey, I may not make it to the hockey game…"

Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph, then said back into the phone, "OK, Eva, we're sending Raph into a diabetic coma with all our sugar, let's just meet in the lobby so we can decide which movie to watch while we wait for a load or two of laundry. Maybe even some ping-pong or foosball, or we could cook some fettuccini alfredo in the kitchen… Yeah? That sounds good. OK, Dovekin, see you down in the lobby in about five minutes. Sure! Bye, Dovekin!"

"Sorry, Raph." Mikey said as he hung up the receiver. "I'm going to the lobby with Eva to get a victory dinner picnic ready for after the game tonight."

"What if we lose?"

"Then it'll be a consolation dinner—but you know I prefer to think positive. You're welcome to join us." Mikey started getting dressed in some human disguise clothes.

"And come between a mushy-gushy session between a 'Pumpkin' and his 'Dovekin'?" Raph added with a smirk.

"It's the lobby. It's a public place, so there will probably be plenty of other people—maybe even our other bros, the other girls, Casey, or Jason, or any other friends."

"OK," Raph shrugged, "I may join you later. But first I wanna get out our rollerblades and hockey gear to make sure it's still good for tonight. Have fun!"

"I plan on it!" Mikey waved as he closed the door behind him.

Raph closed his eyes and took a deep breath before standing. He looked around the room.

"Mikey…can't you clean up after yourself?" He muttered with more of a chuckle than anger, as he took his and Mike's empty cereal bowls to the sink. It didn't take long for him to wash the bowls and spoons and set them aside to dry.

"Hmmm…Ah-ha!" He scanned the closet for his and Mike's sporting goods and equipment, then pulled out the box. "Yes! Still here and still good." He set the hockey gear and rollerblades aside. "Could use a little cleaning…"

About five minutes after Raph sat on the floor and started cleaning his equipment, the landline phone startled him.

_**RRIIIIIIINNNNGGG!**_

Raph sighed as he pushed himself up off the floor to a standing position. He muttered to himself, "Why can't Eva and Mikey just text each other like normal people? Just because we're mutants doesn't mean we have to revert to landlines…"

He picked up the phone and said, "Sorry, Mikey just left the room. He went to the lobby, but he'll be back here later tonight. May I take a message?"

A voice laughed on the other end of the line. "Raph, it's me, and I wasn't trying to reach Mikey, I want to talk to _you_."

"Oh, Sheila!" Raph was slightly embarrassed. "It's just that most of the calls on this phone are for Mikey…"

"I can understand that. Most of the calls in our room are for Eva. I had to wait until after she left before I could use the phone. I would've used my T-phone or texted, but it's charging at the moment."

"Yeah, I hear ya. People like Mikey and Eva just love to talk—and they can prolly talk much faster than they can care to text. So, it's great to hear your voice. What's going on?"

"Well, I kinda wanted to check on you, and make sure you were OK after the incident last night. You sound better."

"I do feel better after some rest, even though Casey wanted to watch a movie once we were all in bed. I fell asleep sometime during the previews, so I didn't even see what movie they saw. I was more tired than I thought I was."

"Good to hear you got some sleep. I was also wondering if you were playing in the intramural hockey game tonight. Eva told me Mikey is playing, but she and Mikey weren't sure about you. I was hoping to watch the game, but if you aren't playing, I may not even go."

"Awww!" Raph smiled, "You just want to go to the game to see me. Mikey already talked me into playing, but now that my number one fan is coming, I _have_ to play!"

"Great! That's another reason my phone was charging, so the batteries will be fresh for taking pics at the game."

"And Casey's here, too, but he didn't bring his equipment, so maybe he can keep you company in the bleachers. We might switch out if I start feeling bad. Either way, you'll have some company. I just hear that part of the rec center is older and falling apart…kinda creepy."

"Oh, thanks!" Sheila sighed with relief, "Since Eva was actually gonna stay here and help get the picnic dinner ready, and a lot of our Lambda sisters may be helping her, or in and out of the rec center. It's nice to be trained in some basic martial arts, but this campus is still creepy and empty enough on weekends that I don't like to go out at night without someone else along for protection."

"Good to be safe and smart, I agree. Well, I'm gonna finish cleaning the gear before heading to the rec center."

"OK, sure. Glad to know you're feeling well enough to play. Good luck tonight, Raph!"

"Thanks, Sheila!" Raph smiled as he hung up the phone, and resumed his position on the floor, this time with a pillow, cleaning the hockey gear for a few more minutes. It was so relaxing, that his eyes closed and he dozed off.

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

Raph opened his eyes with a start as the door swung open.

"Hey, Raph, ready to go kick some Delta derrieres in roller hockey?" Mikey started picking up his gear.

"Sure am!" Raph stood up and stretched.

Casey shrugged, "I'd love to play, but I forgot to bring my gear. So I guess I'll be watching."

"Sheila was gonna watch, too. I'm sure she could use some company." Raph said as he put on some of his gear. "And if I happen to get sick or something, you could switch out and play for me."

"I guess I can live with that, for now." Casey tried not to look too disappointed.

"At least you wore a green shirt," Jason play-punched Casey in the shoulder, "So we'll know you're cheering for us."

"Man, I've been reduced to a cheerleader!" Casey complained, "But at least I get to hang around the cute girls."

"Who knows?" Jason shrugged as he left. "We may even ask you for coaching advice. As long as you aren't too busy being a cheerleader-pimp." He laughed.

Casey grabbed Raph's hockey stick and laughed as he pretended to jab Jason with it.

* * *

Raph entered the dilapidated old rec center with Mikey, Jason, and about a handful of other Omega frat guys in green jerseys. They sat on an old bench to put on their rollerblades while they had some small talk and went over a game plan.

The Delta frat guys entered on the opposite side of the gym, sporting their scarlet red jerseys, all jumping up to chest-bump each other, accompanied by forty or so girls from their sister sorority, Kappa, all cheering loudly for them.

Raph nudged Mikey, "You know how I usually like the color red? Well, I might make an exception tonight."

Mikey laughed, "Hey, look! There's our fan section!" He pointed to the section of the old bleachers with about ten of the Lambda girls in their green shirts. "And there's Casey, Sheila, and Eva, on the front row!"

Raph smiled and waved, "And Cristin and Sarah are right behind them!"

"Who's that?" Mikey pointed to a guy in a tan bucket hat, gray plaid blazer jacket with a pack of cigarettes visible in the left chest pocket, blue jeans with rips at the knees, and combat boots who stood near the "Omega entrance". He eyed some of the Lambda girls, as if he was trying to decide which one to sit by, or even to sit down at all. "I feel like I've seen him around campus, but never met him. Although I do read some weird vibes about him from some of the girls."

"Oh yeah…" Raph remembered, "That's Jimmy Eikron. Sheila told me he's creepy, so I'm sure glad Casey is here. Unless…is he one of our fans?"

"I dunno." Mikey shrugged, "Maybe we'll just keep an eye on him throughout the game, that is, if he stays."

The roller-hockey game started.

The Delta team dominated the first period, scoring five points. However, Omega was able to score two points with some teamwork between Mikey and Jason.

During the huddle, the Omega athletic director, who was also acting as the "coach", patted Raph on the shoulder, "Are you alright, Raph?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sorry to let those five goals get by me."

"Hey, it's OK, you're playing some great defense out there. If it weren't for you, Delta would have, like, fifteen points. But let me know if you start feeling lightheaded or anything, 'cause I don't want anyone to die out there—it's just an intramural game. And what about you, Luke?" He turned to another member of the team. "Eat a few of your candies during breaks so that your blood sugar doesn't bottom-out."

As Luke nodded and complied, Raph glanced up to the bleachers. He noticed Jimmy still had his eyes on the Lambda girls, and was slowly approaching some of them from his perch near the top row of the bleachers. But once Casey returned with drinks and snacks for the girls, Jimmy retreated to his seat against the wall on the top row of the Omega bleachers, folding his arms and trying to look indifferent.

"_Good thing Casey is with them. Jimmy seems to be avoiding him._" Raph thought.

Jimmy still seemed more interested in the Lambda girls and Casey than the game. He even almost looked angry or annoyed at Casey, and maybe as if he was contemplating confronting one of the girls.

"_Wasn't Jimmy's ex-girlfriend a recent Lambda initiate? Maybe he's trying to talk to her, or win her back?_" Raph thought again as he took a few more gulps from his water bottle. "_Jimmy is so hard to read, especially since I don't know him very well._"

"Earth to Raphie!" Mikey snapped Raph out of his thoughts. "Do you still feel up to playing in the second period?"

"Oh, yeah," Raph skated out to the rink with his brother and the rest of Team Omega. "My A-game is back on!"

Raph, as well as Team Omega, came back in the second period to bring their score up to six. Delta was still leading with seven. Raph even played some good offense, scoring two of Omega's points. Luke and Jason scored the other two.

"Great comeback, fellas!" The Omega athletic director gave everyone a pat on the shoulder as they came to the huddle after the second period. "You guys are doing awesome out there, thanks to several of our new brothers. I mean—Delta usually _creams_ us in intramurals. Man, it feels so good to have a chance!"

Raph scanned the bleachers as he drank from his water bottle. Sheila was giving him a thumbs-up and a quick wink. Raph returned the gesture. Casey and most of the other Lambda girls were clapping and cheering. Jimmy was still at the top of the bleachers with his arms folded, only now his eyes were closed as if he were asleep.

Mikey nudged Raph, "Looks like we don't have to worry about that Jimmy character after all."

Raph chuckled, "I didn't expect anyone would be _that_ bored with this game."

Mikey leaned in and almost whispered to Raph, "So, are you still feeling OK?"

"Oh, yeah." Raph nodded, "A hockey game was just what I needed. But thanks for asking."

"Anytime, Bro!" Mikey playfully slapped Raph's arm as they skated back out for the third period.

During period three, both teams' defenses were nearly neck-and-neck. Once they were tied with eight points, the fans in the bleachers all seemed to be on the edge of their seats.

At one point while Raph was sitting out, letting some of the other Omegas play, he saw Sheila lean over and say something to Casey. Casey just quickly turned his head to acknowledge her, and then resumed intensely watching the game. Raph shrugged before heading back onto the rink, thankful Casey was still there.

Both teams' fans stood to cheer their hearts out. Six seconds before the final buzzer sounded, Raph and Mikey teamed up to score the final goal. Team Omega was victorious!

The overjoyed Omegas shook hands with the disappointed Deltas, while the Lambdas and Casey ran onto the rink to hug and congratulate their brother fraternity.

"Yay, Mikey!" Eva wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck, while he hugged her back and picked her up to twirl around with her. They were kissing on the lips when he set her back on the ground.

"Way to go, Raph!" Casey double high-fived Raph, as Raph double high-threed back. "What a game! I didn't even need to sub in for you—that's great!"

"Thanks for rooting for us, Casey!" Raph smiled. "And for taking good care of our groupies." He nodded to the Lambda girls. "Hey, where is Sheila?"

"Oh, wait!" Casey thought, "I think she said she needed to leave as soon as the game was over, but didn't want to miss the end of the game. I don't remember if it was for the bathroom, or for getting the dinner ready, or maybe for telling the people getting the picnic ready that our team won…something like that."

Raph scanned the Omega bleachers and the gym entrance, but saw no sign of Sheila, or Jimmy. "Hey, Casey, did you see where that strange guy went? The scruffy guy who hung out on our side of the bleachers, near the top row?"

"What guy?" Casey asked. "There were, like, twenty people who sat in our bleachers. I didn't notice anyone who sat further back than the first three rows."

"Oh well, never mind." Raph shrugged. "Let's just go meet Sheila and the others at the picnic. You're welcome to come, of course, since you're a guest of the Omegas. And I'm sure the Lambdas would be disappointed if their favorite bodyguard didn't show up."

* * *

The picnic was held in the courtyard common area behind the dorm. The players had some time to shower before eating, so as not to offend their Lambda sisters with their sweaty post-game fragrance, even though it was the "sweet smell of victory".

When Raph, Mikey, and Casey came to the picnic, the food was set up buffet-style on some picnic tables, while the people were sitting on various picnic blankets on the ground.

The Omega president got everyone's attention. "Thanks to our newly-initiated pledge class, with plenty of guys with more athletic ability than I think Omega is allowed to have," The crowd chuckled. "This is actually going to be a victory picnic. We've got plenty of food set up at these tables, but before we eat, our chaplain, Scott, will lead us in a word of prayer."

"Father God," Scott began as everyone bowed their heads, "Thank you so much for this food, and the hands who prepared it. And thank you for this great new group of pledges in both of our clubs. Even though it was just an intramural roller-hockey game, thank you for letting us win one this year," a few people chuckled. Scott continued, "And thank you for keeping all the players safe during the game. And thank you for the great group of sisters who supported us, and are here to celebrate with us. It's in the name of your Son, Jesus, we pray…" Everyone joined him in saying "Amen!"

Once Raph filled up his plate, he scanned the group for Sheila.

"Hey, Mikey, Raph, Casey," Eva's voice shouted from one of the picnic blankets, "Sit with us!" She was sitting with Cristin, Sarah, Jason, and Luke.

"Hey, Raph," Sarah began once Raph sat down, "You may know Luke from pledging and from the hockey game…"

"Yeah," Raph shook hands with Luke, "Great moves during the game! I'm glad your blood sugar didn't bottom-out during the game, I know we were a tad worried about that."

"Thanks, and you weren't so bad, yourself." Luke smiled.

Sarah continued, "What you may not know about Luke is that he's an ex-member of the Foot Clan back in New York City, until he was injured in combat, and ended up in the hospital. Then Cristin and I met with him, started studying with him, and invited him to our youth group."

"Oh, really?" Raph looked surprised, "Gee, this is kinda awkward, since it was probably in combat with my family. Sorry about that…"

Luke spoke up, "Actually, I'd more want to thank you for putting me in the hospital, since quitting the Foot, meeting these two girls, and then becoming a believer was the best turn of events that happened in my life. I only got into the Foot for the Ninjitsu, I didn't care about the whole 'vendetta' thing against your family. I even tried to get back in, once I became a believer, to try to act as a chaplain or missionary to the other members of the Foot."

Cristin cut in, "He's the guy who got captured by the Foot the same time Sarah and I did. We thought he was a goner, since we didn't hear from him until he came to visit us in the hospital, after you rescued us."

"And how did you get out after you were captured?" Raph asked, "I take it you were out before they were," he pointed to the girls, "Especially since _you_ were visiting _them_ in the hospital…"

Luke chuckled, "Oddly enough, I was just being discharged from the hospital myself, after I was there over a month recovering from my own set of…issues, for lack of a better word."

"How did you escape from being captured by the Foot?" Mikey asked.

Luke thought for a moment, "You know, I must've had amnesia or something. I sort of remember being caught, and Shredder sending me to a different part of the dungeon than the girls…the next thing I knew, I was waking up from a coma in intensive care. I must've been tortured or something, but don't remember it, thank God. I only know that because I woke up with Type-One Diabetes—or the insulin-dependent kind—and I also…had a few things missing." He waved his hands, which had a few fingers, or parts of fingers missing on each hand.

"I didn't notice that before." Raph stated. "So, is it just your fingers?"

"No…" Luke said, "My toes kinda match each hand, but I'd probably eventually lose them to diabetic ulcers anyway. I also don't know if you can tell, but most of my thumbs are artificial—part of these prosthetic wrist braces that I usually keep hidden under sleeves. I still at least had enough thumb stubs left so it wasn't much of a problem to fit prosthetics."

"Wow…" Raph admired as he inspected Luke's wrist braces. "I'm impressed that you can still handle a hockey stick as well as you do."

"…And check my blood sugar, and give myself insulin injections, and write, and type, and wield various martial arts weapons," Luke chuckled. "I had great physical and occupational therapists."

"Still," Mikey looked kinda sad, "I'm sorry the Foot took some of your fingers and toes…"

"And…" Luke looked slightly embarrassed, and looked at Sarah, "…Let's just say that **someday**—no pressure or anything right now—but if Sarah—or whoever—and I want kids…we'll have to adopt."

Sarah explained to Raph, who looked shocked, "It was kinda awkward for all three of us, when he told us about all of his injuries while visiting Cristin and me in the hospital. At the time, we were just friends. But now it's kinda weird talking about 'kids', since…we're at a stage in our relationship that we haven't really agreed on a definition, we're more than just friends, but barely started dating—or at least barely calling it 'dating'." She giggled and patted Luke's right hand, including part of the prosthesis.

Luke smiled back at her. "Good choice of words, Sarah. I'd call you 'Sweetheart', but I'm not sure if I'm ready for pet names just yet."

Mikey asked, "So…if you don't mind me asking, Luke, does that mean that the Foot also took your…"

Luke interrupted in almost a whisper, "Castrated me? Yeah…but on the bright side, I think prostate cancer runs in my family, so this might at least decrease my chances of getting that, or male-pattern baldness." He stroked his hair back. "It's still been humbling, nonetheless, I'll admit."

"Just to clarify," Casey began in a whisper to match Luke's, "…And how shall I say this… Can you still stand while…in the men's room?"

Raph slapped the back of Casey's head, then apologized to Luke, "Sorry if my bonehead friend asks such personal questions, however invasive and inappropriate they may be for people he's just barely met, but he doesn't know any better."

Casey rolled his eyes.

"That's OK," sighed Luke, "I know people who hear about…the cross I have to bear…are still curious. I actually _can_ still stand, just closer than I used to, if you get my drift…"

Raph nodded, "Gotcha… Well, if it makes you feel any better, the night I met Sarah and Cristin, the Foot gave me an injection in that area with a weird virus that causes me to…go 'on' for no apparent reason, and take its time going 'off', all the while giving me some crippling pain, weakness, and tiredness, and sometimes even making me pass out. So I feel some of your pain. But kinda like you, I don't remember most of what happened to me that night, only about meeting Sarah and Cristin in the dungeon. I was also relieved that Shredder let Sheila go without a scratch, since we were captured together that night while walking in Central Park."

"No prob, Raph," Luke nodded.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Casey sat up and looked around, "Speaking of Sheila, where is she? I thought she was gonna meet us here after the game, but I haven't seen her since the game ended."

"Oh man!" Raph slapped his forehead, "I was gonna ask you guys where she was, or if anyone had seen her, but I just got so into Luke's story that I forgot until now."

Eva gasped, "I didn't even see her back in our room, so I thought she was here, too. I also haven't seen her since the game in the rec center." She got up, "Should we go looking for her?"

"I think we should," Raph stood up.

Jason got up, "There are multiple routes between here and the rec center. Maybe we could split up or something. I could walk straight to the rec center, while the other two groups could drive—maybe one group driving the more north route, and the other group driving the more south route."

Casey volunteered, "I brought a van, some of us can take that. But someone else may need to drive, since I don't know where to go."

Mikey looked between Eva and Casey, "Eva and I could go with you, Casey, and either of us could drive."

"OK, great! Let's get going!" Casey said, tossing the keys to Mikey, since he was closer, as he and Eva ran to the van.

"I've got a car we can take!" Sarah volunteered. "Who's with me?"

Raph and Luke both raised their hands, and started following Sarah to her car.

Cristin glanced at Jason, who gave her a thumbs-up as he started jogging away. She then called to Sarah, "I'll walk with Jason!" She ran to catch up with Jason as they took off in hot pursuit.

Raph got in the back of Sarah's car on the driver's side, while Luke got in shotgun. Sarah was barely pulling out of her parking place, when Mikey pulled up behind her. She rolled down her window, since she saw their shotgun window was down.

Casey had the shotgun window rolled down, so he leaned out and shouted, "We've got the northern route, so you guys take the southern one, OK?"

"OK!" Sarah shouted back and gave a thumbs-up. As she came back to face the steering wheel and roll up her window, she nodded, "So, southern route it is!"

As they pulled out of the dorm parking lot, Luke turned around to Raph, "Now, I don't know Sheila very well…but she's Eva's sister, right?"

"Yeah," Raph nodded, "She's the mutant turtle girl who wears the silver mask pulled into sort of a ponytail bun, and she's just a little taller than Eva. She either hangs out with Eva or me."

"Oh, right," Luke nodded, "I've seen her from a distance, but I don't think I've formally met her. I mean, I pledged with you, Raph, but I'm just now actually getting to know you, and your family. Forgive me for asking this, but are you and Sheila brother and sister, or boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"That's cool," Raph chuckled, "We're boyfriend and girlfriend, no relation, we just both happen to be mutant turtles. Meeting her and her family worked out great, since there are four turtle guys and four turtle girls all around the same age. God sure smiled on us, huh?"

Luke laughed.

Sarah pretended to clear her throat, "Not that I mean to interrupt, but, each of you guys are looking out your windows for Sheila, right?"

"Yep!" Both Raph and Luke answered.

Luke continued, "I don't see anything that looks like Sheila, yet."

They were almost to the rec center. As they pulled into the south parking lot for it, Raph suddenly started unbuckling his seatbelt. "Stop the car!" He tried opening the door without success.

Sarah hit the break, and turned off the child-protection lock. "Sorry, Raph. What is it?"

But Raph shot out of the car as soon as he had the chance. He was running toward the bleachers of the intramural field, which shared a parking lot with the rec center.

"Oh my…" Sarah gasped as Luke got out of the car to follow Raph. She threw the car in park, running behind the guys for a few steps, before stopping to get out her phone. "Intmrl fld—ASAP!" She group-texted to Eva, Cristin, and Lisa, and then resumed her running.

Raph heard an unfamiliar female screaming, and some crashing sounds in the metal bleachers, even while he was about fifty yards away.

"Sheila!" Raph cried out once he reached the foot of the bleachers, and recognized the green form curled into a fetal position and lying on the ground on her left side. Her back was to Raph. Once Raph reached her, he rubbed her right shoulder, trying to roll her onto her back so he could get a better look at her face.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Sheila weakly cried. She looked up at Raph, with a black eye, bloody nose, and a bleeding lip. She weakly gasped, "Oh, Raph! Don't let him do it!"

"Him who? Do what?" Raph asked as Sheila choked on some blood.

She pointed toward the top of the bleachers. "Don't let him do it…" She wheezed before losing consciousness.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Raph heard Luke shout and start running his way up the bleachers.

Raph peered in the direction where Sheila pointed, and where Luke was converging. He suddenly realized what Sheila was talking about. For Jimmy Eikron was climbing up the chain-link fence at the top of the bleachers.

"NO, JIMMY, NO!" The unknown girl who Raph assumed he heard scream earlier was wrapped around Jimmy's left ankle, trying to keep him from climbing. Jimmy shook his foot and kicked at her with it, until he knocked her to where she fell to the second topmost row of the bleachers. "JIMMY!" She screamed and started to cry.

Jimmy resumed climbing; this time he seemed in pain and as if he was sobbing, "I GOT NOTHING TO LIVE FOR! I HATE MY LIFE!"

He reached the top of the fence, and seemed to lie across the bar at the top of it; the right side of his body teetering over the edge by the time Raph and Luke reached him. Wasting no time, the two ninjas leaped directly to the top of the fence from the top row of the bleachers. Luke and Raph held onto Jimmy with one hand, and onto the bleacher side of the fence with the other. Luke was at Jimmy's head end, grabbing him by the right elbow, while Raph was at Jimmy's feet end, grabbing his right ankle. On the count of three, they both pulled Jimmy back over to the bleachers. He landed on the top row in pain, but with a lot less bodily damage than if he had landed on the other side of the fence, like he originally planned.

By the time the campus security guards got to the top of the bleachers, Luke had Jimmy's hands pinned behind his back, while Raph held down his feet. They tried to handcuff him, but they noticed some blood on his sleeves. Upon lifting the sleeves, they noticed that Jimmy had some deep gashes on the insides of his forearms.

One of the guards said to the other, "We'd better take him to the campus teaching hospital, and tell them to put him under suicide watch."

The other guard patted down Jimmy, "Alright, buddy, where's the knife?"

Jimmy shook his head and mumbled, defeated, "I dunno, I think I dropped it."

Raph glanced down from the top of the bleachers to look at the ground below, where Jimmy would've fallen nearly fifty feet. He motioned to Luke, "I think that's the knife. Jimmy would've fallen right on it, if we hadn't stopped him."

Luke's eyes widened, and he nodded in agreement, "Yep, it's a pretty big one, too. You can see it from up here."

As the guards took away Jimmy, one of them stopped on the second topmost row, where Sarah was hugging and rocking the other girl, who was sobbing heavily. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

Sarah looked up at him, "I think she's still in shock, and she may have some other injuries. It's hard to tell in the dark."

"Would you like for us to escort her to the ER to get checked for injuries?" The guard asked, concerned.

"Uh, sure, thanks." Sarah said to him. She turned back to the crying girl in her arms to say, "Come on, Hannah, we're going with them." She tried to stand with the girl, who cried more as she was moved.

"Here, let me help." Luke volunteered as he put his arms behind Hannah, and linked them with Sarah's arms in such a way that they were both carrying her down the bleachers on a "human gurney" of sorts.

Raph helped guide them as they made their way down the stairway of the bleachers. Once they reached the bottom, Raph returned to the spot where he last saw Sheila. But she was nowhere to be found!

"Oh, no…" Raph gasped. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he covered his face with his hands. He collapsed to his knees as he suddenly felt a sense of weakness and lightheadedness overtaking him. He'd had a long day. He sobbed, but was ironically too tired to cry.

"Raph? Raph? Raph!" Raph was so out of it that he barely heard a familiar voice behind him calling his name. "There you are, Raph. Are you OK?" The arms wrapped around Raph, pulling him into the chest of a guy in a gray hooded sweatshirt. It felt like it had been so long since Raph heard the voice of his brother, Donnie. "Raph, it's gonna be OK. I'm here for you, Bro."

Raph glanced up at Donnie's hooded face, and then leaned onto his shoulder to return the hug. "Oh, Donnie! Thank you for coming." He glanced around, noticing that he and Donnie were the only ones left on or around the intramural field. "Where is everyone else? Especially Sheila?"

Donnie began, "Lisa and I were having coffee in the dorm lobby, when she got an urgent-sounding text message from Sarah to come to the intramural field. We got the hummer and came over here as fast as we could. When we got here, Eva, being in nursing school, was helping a bunch of other people safely carry Sheila into Casey's van. She said that Lisa was needed as a doctor—even as a first-year med student, to help take care of Sheila at the student med center, both there and on the way. Everyone else was on the way to the ER, either driving or walking. I realized you weren't with any of the groups, so I came back to look for you. Look at you, you must be freezing."

Raph sat up and took a deep breath, realizing that a fog had set in, and a few snowflakes started drizzling on them. "Oh yeah, it's mid-November."

"Come on," Don grunted as he stood up and pulled Raph to his feet. "I've still got the hummer, and I'm anxious to get the heater running."

Raph chuckled, leaning against Donnie's right shoulder for support as they walked off the field. "Sounds great."

"Where to, first?" Donnie asked, "The ER, or the dorm? Your choice."

"Definitely the ER to check on Sheila and the others." Raph nodded, "What kind of friend and boyfriend would I be if I just went back to the dorm?"

Donnie shook his head, "I thought…just in case you weren't feeling well…you could go back to the dorm and rest. I know your friends—and Sheila—would understand. If you needed to take care of yourself first…"

"Oh, thanks. I at least want to stop by to check on Sheila. I don't mind leaving right after that. But I'm sure I'll need you to stay with me the whole time, just to make sure I don't pass out or anything."

"Sure thing, Raph. I'll see you get back to your dorm room OK. I know you must be exhausted by now. By the way, I heard you are quite the legend in intramural roller-hockey."

Raph laughed, "Word travels fast. Where'd you hear that?"

"A few of the people in Omega and Lambda were talking about it in the dorm lobby on their way to and from the picnic out back. Lisa and I overheard some of them while we had our coffee. But I'd like to hear about it from you."

The two of them reached the hummer, and were getting in it with Donnie driving and Raph in shotgun.

"I'd actually like to tell you about it, too. But right now, I'm too worried about Sheila and the others to talk about hockey." Raph vigorously rubbed the outsides of his crossed arms to warm himself.

"Understandable." Donnie said as he started the ignition.

* * *

**A/N: **

10+ years ago, I had planned the fight would be between Raph and Sheila. But I didn't have a really good reason for them to have a fight (argument, that is), or a falling-out that led to a breakup. (Hence the original chapter title was "Nuclear Fall-Out!") Then Sheila was going to start dating Jimmy Eikron, while then those two would have an abusive relationship that led to a fight (physical, in this case), Sheila would get hurt, then Raph would cry and blame himself. Oh, the drama! I couldn't think of why someone like Sheila would actually date Jimmy, since they aren't really each other's type.

I kept some of the original ideas from my story notes. I liked the idea of Mikey's swimsuit calendar with Eva's face over the model's faces. And there was sort of a personal college dorm experience I used as well. When the dorm's landline phone rang a second time, and Raph automatically answered it with "Sorry, Mikey's not here..."? It seemed everyone who called wanted to talk to my roommate, so after a while I would just answer the phone "No, sorry, Michelle's not here..." Then it would make me feel good if the caller said they really wanted to talk to me. :) Times have changed since I dreamed up this story. To think, also 10+ years ago, the dorms had landlines available (but we were responsible for the phone and/or answering machine, if we wanted that), and that was what we mostly used! I didn't get a cell phone until I was a senior in college, living in an off-campus apartment, when my landline phone quit working on me. The answering machine would pick up, and I would hear my parents saying, "Please answer the phone, we're getting worried..." I was going to wait until chapel that morning (it was a Christian school, where we had chapel daily) to find a friend with a cell phone, then call my parents to tell them I was OK. Before I could do that, one of the ladies from the apartment leasing office was knocking on my door to check on me. My parents had apparently called her that morning. She kept repeating, "Your dad is freaking out!" So, that's the mother (or father, in this case) of necessity that led to me getting a cell phone! I never went back to a landline since—it was just an unnecessary expense. :)


End file.
